


When Spring Ends

by Roselucksky



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Fan Children, Fankids - Freeform, Multi, Original Character(s), angst will be tagged in chapter notes, fan kids, im scared of letting people see this please be nice to me, it's mainly focused on the fankids, ive worked on and reworked on this for years no going back now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28765629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roselucksky/pseuds/Roselucksky
Summary: In the future Johto region, caught in a war between who should be the true heir of team rocket, a boy named Hayune tries desparately to save his friends and family from a horrible end, whether it be by the hands their foe, outside forces, or their own hands. As the timeline keeps being reset, things keep changing, and some things grow wildly out of his control.He sometimes wonders... can he truly save them all? or is he simply doomed until Celebi is bored with this game?
Relationships: Crystal/Silver (Pokemon), Gold (Pokemon Adventures) & Kotone | Lyra, Original Character/ Original Character





	1. Restless Night

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to my Brother for proof reading chapters for me, and my girlfriend who has both encouraged and inspired me. and also so generously let me use Daisy in the story. I will update this weekly :)
> 
> chapter one TW: character death, blood, bad memories, knives

_ Deep in a memory, hayune struggles to take control of his dream. It wasn’t working, and before he knew it, he’s once again pulled into the events of the worst day of his life. _

_ In a forest amidst a harsh storm, sounds of battle were everywhere. Columns of smoke rose high in the sky, caused from explosions, fire moves, energy blasts, and countless other attacks. A boy rushes on through the carnage, side-stepping bodies, dodging attacks closely, and with the help of his pokemon, freeing whoever he could pull from rubble of rocks and burning trees. The sky was blotted out with smoke and clouds, as two legendary pokemon clashed harshly in the sky. His mind was rushing too quickly for him to keep up, but he knew he had to find someone. His thoughts kept mixing up their names in his mind as he is nearly crushed by a falling steelix. _

_ He breaks through a line of trees to a clearing, just as the howl of a fainting pokemon is heard. A houndoom is flung down at his feet, black coat turned brown and red by sharp rubble, making the boy jump back to the comfort of the trees. There are two trainers in the clearing, one’s focus taken entirely by the other. One appears to have lost, a look of fearful despair washing over her. She’s holding her chest as if it’s hard to breathe, and she struggled to keep herself upright. The male trainer in the clearing has his rhydon return to its pokeball, and advances slowly to the trainer. _

_ “Oh my… it seems your pokemon have all fainted, haven’t they? That really is a shame. You put all this work into getting here, and they let you down. Really is too bad. You couldn’t even get your prize.” he says, pausing his stride to take a small vial of blackish-blue liquid from his pocket and hold it up. _

_ The girl grits her teeth, and with one last bit of strength, she tries to run up and snatch it from his hands. The male trainer pulls the vial away the moment she’s close, and grabs her by the wrist as she stumbles. The boy grins, blood red eyes fully focused on the tired girl in front of him. _

_ “Nope. it’s not yours. Too bad your no good dad didn’t teach you how to steal properly~” the boy says, chuckling softly before he continues, “Honestly, I don’t understand it at all. Why do you have to be so loyal to some stupid piece of flesh that did nothing for you but bring you into the world? It’s so pointless. If you didn’t care so much, you wouldn’t be hurting so badly right now. Don’t you think?”  _

_ “Shut up!” the girl growls, tears pooling in her dark blue eyes as she tries to pull her hand from his tightening grip. _

_ “You’re right, I shouldn’t be complaining. After all, it’s what keeps you following me. I never get tired of it! You never, ever win against me. Yet you keep coming back. Like a stray pokemon looking for food. This is the last vial you need, right? How sad…” he says, and as she tries to grab the vial again, he releases another pokemon. _

_ A steelix now sits, such a tiny vial occupying the space between its massive jaws, enough of a sight to make the girl look even wearier. _

_ “No, NO! GIVE IT BACK GIVE IT BACK PLEASE!!” she shouts desperately, trying to push through the threatening trainer in front of her.  _

_ The steelix raises its head high in the sky, and the trainer wraps his arms around her, hushing and shushing and smoothing her hair back as she screamed and sobbed, kicked and punched with what little strength she had left. Slowly, she was beginning to lose her strength to coughs. _

_ “There there. It's okay. He won’t break it, I promise. There’s still another option left for you to get it! Please don’t cry.” the trainer says, using a sleeve to brush away her tears. _

_ She looked up at him, an icy and hateful look met with a delusional and loving one. He holds her closer to himself, playing with a strand of her purple hair. _

_ “What… what else could you ask for? What else do you want me to do?!” the words come out, choked up by tears.  _

_ “I want you to stay with me.” he says simply. _

_ A look of dread and confusion washes over the girl’s face. The boy already seems overjoyed by the scenario in his head, smiling and blushing, lifting her off the ground and causing a hiss of pain. _

_ “Forget about this painful little world you live in. Forget about your worthless parents, forget about this region, forget my siblings, forget it all! I’ve seen every little bit of your situation, I don’t know how you haven’t ended it all already. I don’t know how you put up with those useless blank faces you call grunts, I don't know how you still call that annoying bastard a friend. But you’ve made it so far. I only want to save you. I’ll make sure the medicine gets to them of course, but after that we run away, just me and you. Forever… it would be amazing…” the boy rambles on and on, spinning her around. _

_ She’s crying, but the boy barely seems to notice. The boy in the bushes watching is trying so hard to hate the one in the clearing. But it’s so hard. He barely can with how much he knows about him - and he knew the way he was acting wasn’t the real him. He had to interfere. He didn’t want either of them to be suffering anymore. He wanted them both to get the help he’s been trying to get them to for months. This wasn’t right. He had to do something.  _

_ “Well? What do you say? Won’t you be mine?” he asks her, placing her back on the ground once done spinning and talking. _

_ “WAIT! Stop, stop please!” the boy finally crashes from the bushes, causing both trainers to jump. _

_ The boy’s red eyes widen, then fill and burn with hatred. “You… why do you always have to get in the way?! GET OUT!” he shouts. _

_ The girl instantly backs away from the red-eyed boy, slipping from his grasp and rushing to the other boy, no longer able to fake a brave face he once knew her for as she cries into his jacket. He offers her a bit of comfort, much to the red-eyed boy’s hatred. The boy felt his stomach knot itself tighter. His green eyes could only radiate pity and grief for them both. He knew too much to be angry. _

_ The red-eyed boy only knew hate until the blue-eyed girl introduced him to kindness, after all. It was nobody’s fault he became obsessed with the sweet feelings she brought him, no matter how small. And when the green-eyed boy tried to mediate and interfere with the wrongly done advances, he’s met with an angry fighter that couldn’t see the kindness he tried to offer at all. Not to mention, he kind of liked the girl too, and the other knew that and hated it. He supposed it was time he tried to fix things again. _

_ “Please, don’t. Why can’t you see what’s wrong with this? You can’t make her cry, you can’t make her be with you, and proposing stuff like that shouldn’t be done in a war zone either! Everything you’ve done to her is just awful, so please stop! You need to get help!” the green eyed boy pleads to the other. _

_ “Why do you ALWAYS do this to me?! I’m not even hurting her! I’m trying to save her! LOOK AROUND YOU, THIS PLACE IS FINISHED! It’s not safe for anyone! You should’ve fucked off a long time ago and let me have her! You’re the reason she’s obsessed with this place too! Why can you NEVER let me be happy?! Why do you ALWAYS like to ruin me?!” the red-eyed boy screamed at him. _

_ “I’m not doing that! I never have been, I swear! I just want you both to be okay! That’s all i’ve ever been trying to do! Why won’t you listen to me?!” the green eyed boy pleaded to him. _

_ The red-eyed boy growls, “You annoy the hell out of me. You never shut the hell up about what you think! It’s always me being wrong, it's always putting words in her mouth and walking off with her, it’s all you you you and you don’t let anybody speak! YOU were all she talked about when we were alone, YOU think i’m fucking insane and YOU never EVER stopped getting in the way! It’s all this whining and bullshit! I don’t wanna hear it anymore!” the red-eyed boy shouts. _

_ There’s a moment of silence, the green eyed boy says softly, “It’s not… I… i’m just trying to save you two… that’s all… I swear… that’s just what I want. You both deserve so much better…” _

_ The boy pauses, contemplating the other’s words. He says softly, voice drenched in a bitter tone, “Well. It seems we both think we’re right. We both want our sweet girl to be happy. But we both can’t agree on something to make that happen. How about this: you and I battle one more time. Your classic loser does anything the winner wants them to. How about it? If you manage to win, i’ll start listening to every little word that leaves your mouth. If you lose… you get to knock her out, and then to sit still and let me carve you up. Deal?”  _

_ The boy stands there. His blue-eyed best friend had been sobbing and begging for this nightmare to be over. He hugs her gently, and then silences her with a pressure point meant to knock her out. He lays her with her fainted favorite.  _

_ “Alright. It’s a deal. I’ll be going all out.” the green-eyed boy claims.  _

_ The two take their positions, being sure to keep the fainted girl from harm’s way, and begin their brutal fight. Everything came down to this, and they fought as if lives depended on it as the forest fell around them. By the end, both trainers were bruised from aftershock of attacks, and their last pokemon stood, scraped and bloodied. One more attack is called, and the pokemon clash once more, shouting out. They both fall to the ground, landing and crumpling under their own weight. A silence falls. Neither pokemon nor trainer move. No one gets back up. _

_ “How funny. We both lost, huh?” the red-eyed one says, smiling ruefully. “I guess it’s fine… I guess. I don’t have to listen, but I don't get to kill you. I guess that leaves it up to next time.”  _

_ “That’s wrong!” a voice calls out in their heads, startling both of the boys.  _

_ “What the hell?!” the red-eyed boy curses. _

_ For a second, the green eyed boy feels hope as his guardian and friend appears. Scarred over one eye with a torn wing and scratched up limbs all adorning one side, but okay. The red-eyed boy is completely in shock. _

_ “This can’t keep going! I want it to end, so it has to! I don’t care about stupid rules and i don’t care about the six rule! I’m Hayune’s pokemon and he wins!” the pokemon claimed, telepathically speaking to both battlers as she rests on Hayune’s head.  _

_ “Celebi?! I’m glad to see ya, yay thank you and all that but who did THAT?!” Hayune asks. _

_ “Let’s just say somebody’s mad that I didn’t let him kill that guy. But I beat his butt back to his little island and now it's fine, even if I’m super tired. Your plan will work, I know it!” Celebi says. _

_ “Thanks! You hear that, Rust?! You gotta listen! It’s in a weird way but I won! Please obey this tiny god!” Hayune says _

_ Rust giggles, and then starts to laugh loudly, crazily. “Ahahahaha! It’s just your luck, isn’t it?! Ohh, you have a fucking legendary on your side! It all makes sense!” the boy laughs and laughs. _

_ Hayune gives him a nervous chuckle. Rust walks forward, switchblade pulled from his pocket, and flipped open. Hayune feels his blood run cold. _

_ “Hehe… that thing can’t fight me in that condition either. I bet you don’t even have a pokeball that it hides in. Since you’ve broken the rules like this, who says I have to listen or honor anything when you’ve been cheating all this time?” Rust asks, cackling loudly as he picks up speed. _

_ “Rust, wait! I don’t want to fight you!” Hayune pleaded. _

_ “I don’t care anymore! Say Goodbyyyyyeeee!!!” Rust shouts, and lunges to attack. _

_ Hayune puts his arms up in defense. He feels himself get knocked back. He lands hard, backpack spilling contents but cushioning the fall. Hayune had his eyes closed, bracing for the sting of a cut. A sound of knife hitting flesh sounds, and a hiss of pain that wasn’t his own. _

_ He opens his eyes. Rust has a look of horror washed over his face, hands covering mouth as he stepped back, looking at just what he had done. The knife is on the ground, covered in blood. Just above him, now falling to the ground, is the girl he was trying so hard to protect. Blood was gushing from her chest, and a sound between a small laugh and a cough came from her. _

_ “AZURE!!” Hayune shrieked, just barely saving her from falling fully as he hopelessly tried to stop the bleeding. _

_ It was coming out so fast. He didn’t know how to stop it, what he had wasn’t good enough and Celebi was barely able to carry herself. He panicked, trying to think of what to do or what way to move with her. _

_ “It's okay…” She says softly. Light is fading from her eyes quickly, along with the strength she used to hold his hand. _

_ “N-no! This can’t be happening, please! Please stay with me, Azy please!” Hayune sobbed. _

_ “Hayune… you did your best. Not your fault… I couldn’t let him hurt you…” Azure says. _

_ “No… I wouldn’t care about being hurt! You didn’t have to do this! J-just please, stay awake… maybe your dad is around, maybe that Mistress, maybe someone… anyone! Don’t leave me, please!” he pleaded to her. _

_ She shook her head slightly. They both knew she wouldn’t last long at all. He hung his head, sobbing harder. _

_ “Why…” Hayune whimpered softly. _

_ “Because…” she says softly. _

_ Her hand loses that strength. Her last words are said softly, no more strength or fight to them. _

_ “...I… love… you…”  _

_ And with that, she moved no more. No pulse, no breath, eyes vacant. Her body lays limp in his arms. He couldn’t take it anymore. _

_ “Azy… Azure… Azure! AZY PLEASE!!” Hayune cries out. _

_ He tries to shake her, start her pulse back up, anything. Nothing was working. His world darkened out, and all he could see was her blood covering his hands, her body, his chest, and pouring down to the forest floor in a pool. He couldn’t take it. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening. He wanted to wake up. _

_ “I didn’t mean it…” _

_ The words, like a string tethered to his mind, pull him from that spiral. He looks ahead, and rust is standing there, red eyes filled with tears, body shaking. _

_ Their eyes meet. A new feeling is rising in Hayune’s chest.  _

_ “I… I didn’t mean to…” Rust repeated, voice sounding hollow. _

_ The feeling burned inside him. He gently places Azure on the ground. He couldn’t speak, but he could see the reason his best friend was now dead. The reason he was hurting. What went wrong in all of it. _

_ He reaches behind him, to the small pile of spilled contents now lightly drenched in blood. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t stop this nightmare. Many memories overlap, between times this was against enemies and even once-allies _

_ “H-Hayune… I…” Rust says softly. _

_ He finds the item in his hand, and is forced to stand up. He walks forward, the item dragging on the ground behind him. Rust didn’t have a clue. Hayune couldn’t find the voice to speak. He wants to scream, give the suffering boy any warning he could. He hears a pair of voices speak mockingly in the distance. _

_ “I’m sorry!” Rust finally spits the words out.  _

_ But he couldn’t say a thing in response. His bat swung down and dyed his vision red. _

_ … _

Hayune wakes in his bed, crying out in cold terror from the nightmare. He looks down, looking at his clothes. No blood, no hoodie, no tears, no nothing. Only yellow pajamas printed with a big Flaaffy on the front of the shirt, and many small mareep on the pants. He glances around the room, with its same old plushies and tired pokemon everywhere, most notably his Sylveon laying by his feet. On his nightstand, the same pile of books, a lamp, and resting on top of his phone, a small pink Celebi doll, missing a button eye, right arm torn clean off, right leg having loose strings, and right wing bitten in half. 

Hayune takes the small, handmade plush, and holds it to his chest while he checks the time. A small, bittersweet smile graces his lips.

“You were right. Again.” Hayune says softly, a cool breeze drifting from the open window.

The time was February 18th, at about 3AM. Hayune puts the phone back in its spot, and lies back. He glances over to the window. It was a moonless night, yet he could see the stars clearly. 

“I’ll have to try harder now. I wonder what will change…” Hayune muttered to himself, watching his curtains float in the wind. 

He decides to stay up for a bit. He had some things to think about.

…

Across the region, Coal jolts awake from the sound of something beeping. He had forgotten what he had been dreaming about, but shakes the sleepiness out and locates the source of the noise. 

A little monitor in front of him showed unnatural activity somewhere by whirl islands. Oddly, they were more spatial than water or weather anomalies. He squints a bit, wondering if he is still dreaming. 

Regardless, he records the strange activity, date, and time. He hears his sister trudge in.

“What the hell are you beeping for?” She asked tiredly.

“It’s a machine. Space anomaly. We look around whirl islands tomorrow.” Coal says.

“Well shut it up. Go to bed.” Scarlett says.

“I know.” Coal says, and messes with the controls to make it stop. 

With that, he reclines in the chair and curls up once more. It was cozy enough.

…

Azure blinks awake, yawning softly and looking around her. Her chest was sort of aching, and her eyes watery. Her houndoom, nicknamed Vris, was lying on the bed as well, staring at her from the foot of the bed.   


“What’s the matter, Vris? Was I talking in my sleep again?” She asked.

Vris responds with a small bark, then gets up and goes to lick Azure’s face, tail wagging. Azure giggles softly, and pets the houndoom’s horns. Vris lays down on her trainer, making it kind of difficult for her to breathe.

“Yeah. Love you too.” Azure says, then tries to go back to sleep once again.

…

Rust jolts awake, panic hitting him like a slap to the face. Instantly he’s on his feet, knife out, holding it out to the shadows. Nothing attacked, so he takes a deep breath, retracts the blade, and puts it away.

He hated nightmares. He hated the ones he can’t even remember, like come on! Let him know what he’s so scared of so he can get over it!

He sighs, and rummages around the old hideout made his. There were some dusty magazines and comics hidden around, so he picked one at random and took out his lighter, planning to use it to help him read. 

Dusty and old, but looking at them still helped. 

He could tell he might go sleepless if he didn’t stop himself and try for sleep again in a little while.

…

A boy lies on the beach, eyes fixated on the blanket of stars above him. It was endless and shimmering. He didn’t want to move. He wasn’t sure if he was sleepy or even awake, and he couldn’t really take his eyes off the sky.

It took him a moment to remember what happened. It made him pretty upset, but he held it in. He didn’t want to hurt himself again. He focused on the stars, whispering softly to himself, focusing on the twinkling and sounds of crashing waves.

He slowly began to drift again. The sea and stars washed away the pain.

He wanted to know more of what this world was like.

He giggled softly, finally able to close his eyes.

All he needed was sleep, and hope.


	2. Beginning Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another timeline Hayune must follow the motions in. What will transpire this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the only thing i can think to warn about is Hayune having a few flashbacks to his nightmares and a trauma response or two. other than that, the chapter is pretty clear of stuff. 
> 
> enjoy, and let me know if something should be tagged!

Hayune looks outside the window. He didn’t realize morning would come so quickly. He rubs the tiredness from his eyes, or tries to, and gets up. He stretches a bit, makes his bed, and goes to pick out clothes, brush his hair, and just get ready in general. He finishes up, grabs his phone, and heads downstairs. His Sylveon, Valentine, follows behind him with his ribbons dragging on the floor. He gets downstairs, and glances at the clock - it’s too early for his parents to be up. 

Time for him to get to work, and fast. He makes himself some coffee, and starts up a little breakfast, not only for himself but for his parents too. Valentine helped him stay awake and steady, and after a while he finishes the meal. He eats his share and sets the table, leaving a note saying he had to go handle some things. He doubted either would understand, but knew that they’d let him do his thing. He’s almost out the door when he gets tapped on the shoulder by Valentine, who’s making a bit of a pouty face. 

“Right, right. I’ll feed everyone.” Hayune responded tiredly, deciding to take some more coffee for the road while he went for the cupboards they stored pokemon food in. 

Once pokemon are well fed, including his own, he heads for the door and - tapped again. He glances behind him, and Valentine holds up his backpack and baseball bat. He thanks his partner and grabs his things, sliding the backpack onto his shoulders and taking the wooden bat in hand. He takes a moment to stare at it, the polished surface and the words, “Lucky Star” written in fancy lettering he took time perfecting long ago. An image of the words and bat drenched in red flicker across his sights, the image still fresh in his memory. He takes a deep breath.

“It's never happening again. It's never happening again. I’ll get it this time. They’ll be okay. They’ll be okay...” Hayune mutters softly to himself. 

He shoves the thing into his bag, handle sticking out, and heads out. Valentine wraps his ribbons around one of Hayune's hands as they walk. They had ground to cover, and Hayune thought about what he had to do. It would be a long walk, but his strategy would hopefully turn out better than the other things he tried. He moves as quickly as he can manage too, focusing on the road ahead and what he remembers. 

He walks until things start to get familiar. He could see violet city a little ways ahead, some trees marked by an ursarang’s claws, and some pointed stones that would look pretty natural for someone who hasn’t seen them so many times. He pauses by one of the stones for a setup. He takes his phone from his pocket and headphones from his backpack, placing them on his head. 

Plug in, select a station, blast. A song about repeating one day over and over plays first, adding a dash of irony to this whole thing. But he didn’t complain or change it, it was catchy.

He gets into the song, moving into the forest to the beat of the tune. He started not to worry, sing a bit to what he thought was himself. The ground beneath him, after a short while of singing and dancing and spinning, the ground of dirt and leaves feels less like what they were and more like gravel. He vaguely heard a voice over his music, but could make out no words.

Eyes closed, he kept on dancing and singing. The only bit he heard of the person talking to him was when they raised their voice as they said, “WAIT FLUFFY DON’T DO IT SO HARD!!”

But it was too late. Before hayune could even register or open his eyes fully, a round and small furball of a pokemon slammed into his face and knocked him down, sending him into a moment of fluffy blissful dreams.

Needless to say, he had trespassed somewhere and awoke in a cell. But he knew where he was. An HQ home to those who wore black suits - Team Rocket. He shakes off his dizziness, trying to tune into a conversation happening close to where he lies. 

“I swear I didn’t mean to do that! Fluffy just gets so excited and I tried to slow him down-” a lispy voice rambled on and on before being cut short by a more familiar one.

“I understand that. I’m not angry at you. You simply react as one would to a trespasser.” the familiar voice says. 

“A-Are you sure?” the other voice asked.

Hayune lifts his head, getting a better look at the two nearby beyond the bars. One was somebody he knew well, who’s soft and short purple hair and ocean blue eyes could never leave his memory, dressed in her usual black and pink clothes. It was Azure. The grunt before her had orangey curly hair that was about mid length, green eyes, and held herself with a much more anxious demeanor compared to Azure’s composure.

He honestly had forgotten about her for a while. Things change across the timeline each time he and celebi go back… and he was no stranger to this girl. It seems like she's starting to become a constant. He listens on quietly to their talk.

“I’m sure. The only thing that baffles me is how you managed to catch him. Weren’t you supposed to be on the training fields?” Azure says.

“W-well, yeah. But I knew he’d come.” the girl explained.

Both he and Azure share a confused expression. “How did you manage that? Do you know him?” Azure questioned.

The girl shook her head. “Not at all. I just knew, because of my power. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors, right?”

“I have. People call you Crazy, Daisy. But you’re obviously not crazy if you’ve managed to anticipate this trainer’s arrival. Perhaps it has something to do with a legendary pokemon. Are you really sure you just didn’t overhear him planning to come here while out on a walk someday? This is all so strange.” Azure says. 

“No! I already told you, it’s my power!” Daisy says.

“Alright. If you knew, why did you not think to inform my father and save yourself the trip across HQ?” Azure asked.

The girl suddenly gained a serious expression. “If I told him and let him send another grunt, the one that would be picked would have a high chance of thinking killing him would earn extra points, somehow. I don’t think you want that, right?” she replied.

Azure was a bit shocked to silence, staring down at the girl with a neutral expression. 

“U-uhm, sorry for getting so dark. He’s up at least, I'm going to get back to my position. See you later, miss Azure.” Daisy says, back to being flustered in a flash before picking up her puffball of a houndour and running off. 

Hayune didn’t know what to make of daisy. He never did, she was so confusing. He was too shocked to move as Azure looked to see him staring up from the floor. 

Azure just looks at him for a bit. He knew that look well as one that quietly wondered where she’d seen him, because there’s no way she remembered him right now. 

“Hi.” Hayune says.

Azure just glances to the side, then back, and answers, “Father wants to see you. I guess I’m escorting you, considering nobody here wants to do their job or stick to their post.”

He simply nods, gets up as she unlocks the door, and follows. He knows who she is. He still can’t help but smile when he looks at her. He wonders if he should spook her by saying her name, or greeting her Houndoom, Vris. He feels it might spoil things, so he simply holds his hand back to the Houndoom making sure he won’t run. Vris sniffs, still growls after, but a little quieter that time. The silence was getting to him, and so he decided to speak.

“Hey, so… uh… how are things…?” he asked.

“Fine.” The girl answers, still sounding harsh.

Hayune just nodded, and decided to keep his mouth shut after failing to start a conversation several times. They soon arrived at the Boss’ office. He knew the name of the boss, though. He knew many people from the black uniform team.

“I’ve got the trespasser right here, dad.” The girl says, having her pokemon shove the boy forward.

“Good work, Azure. Could you please stand by the door? A little extra security never hurts.” The boss says, speaking kindly to his daughter.

“Sure.” She responds, going to stand back by the door. And after a few moments, Hayune couldn’t help but risk messing things up.

“Hey, Silver. How’s life as a Rocket Boss?” he asks, smiling and waiting for the realization to hit.

It hits nearly instantly. “How do you know my name? This facility has remained a secret, and only a select few are able to know-“

“And your daughter’s name is Azure, and your wife’s name is Crystal – Hey, where is she by the way?” the boy continues, his grin just growing wider.

“Who the hell are you, and why do you know all this? State your name and business here, or else I’ll have to assume you’re with that wretched witch running the other team.” Silver growls, his Weavile poised on the desk and ready to pounce at any moment.

“My name is Hayune, my dad is your friend who’s been wondering where you’ve been hiding. Sad that I didn’t really look where I was going, he really wants to talk again. But it really is good to see Azure again. It’s been like what, five years? Seven? I’m lucky to remember all your names, huh? Heheh…” Hayune says, nervous about Weavile staring him down.

Silver glares him down, searching for resemblance. Hayune then remembered the one giveaway detail about his heritage.

“OH! I forgot, I’m still wearing my green contacts… I figured I’d get a pair with my favorite color if I’m going to need them to see!” Hayune says, quickly scrambling to take them out.

As soon as they’re out, Silver can tell it was no joke. One bright gold eye on the right, one split pink on the left. Those were his unique eyes, and confirmation he knew this kid well in younger years. Silver sighs, a little out of relief, and a bit out of frustration.

Hayune places them back in fast. “Well, they’re made by a company in Unova, so shipping is a bit pricey…and they help you see SUPER well, and apparently they help your eyes like correct themselves very slowly and I’ll be able to see normally in a few years without them, but I dunno if that was just some marketing stuff they made up to sell more. But I kinda fell in love with the forest when I was able to see it! The Ilex forest is sooo pretty, and it looks way less blobby and scary now!” Hayune says happily.

“Sorry to ruin the fun, but… Hayune still trespassed. Dad, wasn’t your original intent to figure out some sort of punishment or payoff for him?” Azure asked, walking up beside him.

“Well, I suppose. But he is technically a family friend, so it won’t be too severe. Azure, I know your escort has been asking for some days off…” Silver said.

“Dad, my escort was trained. Hayune… just isn’t.” Azure reminds him.

“I know that, but… We’re rather short on competent staff, and from what I hear you and your bodyguard don’t get along at all. Hayune, were you ever taught combat?” Silver asked.

“I carry a baseball bat. Mom tells me I have a good swinging arm… or something. I don’t play baseball often, but i’ve broken plenty of things with it!” Hayune says, having to push back another memory as he plays with his hair nervously.

“Okay... guess we do this then.” Azure muttered softly.

“If you’re good with it and willing to use it for self defense, that’s what matters most. What pokemon do you have with you?” Silver asked.

“Well, my buddy Valentine the Sylveon, Drifty, Cotton, Meowy, and Lappy. They’re pretty tough!” Hayune says.

“Can you tell me more than nicknames?” Silver says.

“Oh, right. Sylveon, Drifloon, Mareep, Meowth, and Lapras!” Hayune answers.

“Alright then. Consider your sentence handed through caring for Azure. If she gets hurt, you’re in trouble regardless of what happens. I’ll have a room here set up for you and orders sent through. You start tomorrow.” Silver says.

He thanks Silver, and is led away once more. The team rocket boss sighs tiredly, and takes a moment to stretch as his daughter just kind of. Stares at him. She crosses her arms and her houndoom copies her stance as best as a four legged creature could, sitting up straight and puffing her chest fluff out. 

“So, we’re really doing this? Dragging an old childhood friend into the whole war thing? When he’s probably just been a stay at home boy that plays video games in his room?” Azure says.

“Azure, I know it seems absurd, but trust me on this. His family is powerful. Not sure why, but they do seem to attract the presence of legendary pokemon quite often, speaking from experience and witnessing Hayune’s father get picked up, burned, and flung around by several. I think that happened to his mother as well. If not legendary bait, they are protective and durable.” 

Azure hums and says, “Okay, if you say so… I guess I'm just… starting to get worried. I wish this whole thing would just end well already…” 

“I know, Azure. I think we all want that.” Silver says.

Azy simply walks to one of the large windows, glancing out to watch some grunts go about their business far below. There was a bit of a pit in her stomach, but the feeling was mixed with a slight joy of reuniting with an old friend. She wanted to, of course, talk, catch up, fight him, and maybe see if he could keep up with her until she inevitably gets either winded or tripped up. Thinking of traveling with a friend like that was starting to sound like a better idea than before. He was somebody her age, not some prick that picked the job for no good reason and gave up when she had them eating the dust her flygon kicked up on its flight away. Azure smiles, and Vris wags her tail, picking up on the excitement. She turns around to leave, fidgeting with the little black and pink scarf around her neck as she thought about the situation in a better light.

“But then again… I think you’re right. It’s gonna be much more fun to work with Hayune.” Azure says, her voice a tone that somewhat comforted and somewhat worried her father.

He hoped this would be a good decision.

…

Rust coughs a bit as he wakes, having accidentally inhaled dust for the third time as he rolled over on the pile of old hay and fluff in that abandoned base. He sits and coughs, reaching for his ratty bag to take some water out and hopefully stop the issue. He gets up wearily, heading for the particularly reflective metal that was part of one wall. He wipes some dust with a sleeve, attempting to get a better look at himself. He squints, pressing the bags under his eyes a slight bit. 

“Stupid fuckin restless nights… god…” Rust mutters to himself. 

He moves away from there, feeling it would do him no good to dwell. He felt filthy, so he wanted to find a nice, secluded spot to bathe and clean his clothes. He had only one other outfit on him, having to make a quick run from his home, and that was dirty too. He scoops up his bag, his knife and his lighter, and moves along through the mountainous area. Eventually, he found a nice spot by a waterfall, where the river wasn’t moving fast enough to sweep him away and was deep enough to cover him up. Not that any traveler would stumble across him, he was pretty deep in the wilderness. Lucky for him, there seemed to be a spring beneath the water as well, causing the water to be warmer than the chilly air. He takes off clothes, washes what he had to the best of his ability, and rests the clothes on some rocks at the shore. He reaches for the two full pokeballs in his bag, and lets his pokemon out. 

They were a cubone and sableye, and watched their trainer with careful and confused eyes. They hadn’t really adjusted to the situation ahead of them yet, but he didn’t blame them. Cubone dunks his tiny hands into the water, mimicking Rust’s motions as he attempted to scrub dirt from his white hair. Sableye batted at the water cautiously, making sounds of either intrigue or disgust at the water. It was hard to tell. Rust disappears beneath the water momentarily, noticing a glimmer beneath the pool. He comes back up with some smoothed out, shining stones, which made Sableye make excited noises as he dumped the rocks on the shoreline. Cubone just rummaged through Rust’s bag for breakfast. Rust didn’t mind that, it just meant he’d either have to go foraging or venture into a city for more food. 

He begins to finish up his wash, reluctant to leave the water because damn, it’s freezing out. But he does what he must, and adorns his still kind of damp clothes. It was times like these where he wished he had a fire type. Perhaps one was hiding in a cave, but he didn’t want to risk more freezing just to test a theory. He was okay in the sunlight, and he had to keep moving. He had been through tons worse, he assures himself, this was like nothing.

But the longer this went on, the colder and colder he got. He shivers, shaking as his pokemon follow him cautiously, but are soon to be put away because of just how cold it was. He ends up slipping on a particularly muddy slope and loses balance, skittering and falling onto a nightmarish area full of geodude and graveler. Though not very muddied, he gets slammed into a more dangerous part of the river, and it's  _ freezing. _ He struggles, but is carried downstream and down a particularly high waterfall. He was pretty prepared to meet his end, considering how high up he was and the shock of the cold water.

But he feels something catch his cold body, saving him from the fall. He’s held tightly and his vision swims, everything that had just happened making it hard for his brain to keep up. He can barely move his body. His savior hugs him closely, body heat providing some warmth as they moved. Rust’s memories were somewhat hazy, but he knew they were going somewhere. A fade, then coming back, he feels something draped over him. But it’s warm, he can’t even complain. Fade, then back. The mysterious figure looms over, a warm hand testing his head. He didn’t know why he was being helped. They giggle softly, having a very distinct voice and tone. Rust couldn’t help but wonder who they were. He tried hard to remember details, the dark hair, that strange smile… but a lot of it faded too. He struggles to stay alert, but drifts and fails once more.

The next time Rust awakes, he is alone. Wrapped in a rather old looking blanket, in a cave with hanging moss that draped over the entrance, and a fire that had burned low nearby. Rust sits himself up a bit, looking around quickly. His bag is nearby, items not tampered with at all. He even finds it restocked with berries and refilled bottles of water, still warm from being purified by boiling. He stays for a while, holding the warm bottles close, thinking for a little bit, about that voice, what bits he could remember, just simply wondering what they stood to gain from helping him. Would they come back? Would he be able to ask? Still holding the blanket around himself, he walks around the small area to investigate for whatever may have been left. He could smell something distinct, he didn’t quite know what it was. It was faint, so whatever carried it left a while ago. He spotted some dust - no, that wasn’t just dirt, it seemed to be sand. If they were still by where he was before, how did the person end up tracking  _ sand _ here? It even smells like ocean. Some more scrounging around for a while longer, and he even finds a small shell. He guessed that he may have to find his way to a town to pinpoint his exact location. But meanwhile, this little hideout seemed otherwise undiscovered, each one he found before, whether natural or man made, always had a name or initials carved into it. Rust takes his knife, and works on chizzling his name in the cave wall for a bit. 

Once that was done, he decides to start his move once again. He keeps his pokemon outside their balls as he traverses outside the little base. Sableye keeps putting rocks in its mouth, then spitting them out, while cubone leads the way, sniffing the air, dragging its bone club along the ground. Sableye finally finds a rock it preferred to chew on, biting and breaking the thing in half, then giving the other half to Rust. he took a moment to look in the broken geode. Wow, somehow he managed to find a beautiful crystal.

“Good find.” Rust says to the pokemon, and places the given stone in his pocket.

They travel on until they reach Azalea town, and find a center. Looking at the map in that place reveals to him that he was moved from the route below Blackthorn City to pretty much the middle of the region, in Ilex Forest. Rust was, needless to say, confused as all hell. But even so, he just accepts this odd displacement and looks around town for any more clues, if he could. If not clues, then odd jobs. He had been hiding his uniform under that raggy blanket, he needed some more clothes to wear and some supplies for survival. He decides to walk around, talk with some people to look for an oddjob or two that would get him some cash by the end of the day. 

He got a small job cutting wood for a family in their little cottage, which was done within two hours, much to the family’s surprise, and he was paid well. Another job was picking some apricots for a local traditional pokeball making company, he was paid a bit less, but special pokeballs were thrown in to make up for what couldn’t be paid. The local gym needed windows washed and some bushes trimmed, so Rust pounces on that job and again, the work is done in record time, much to the leader’s awe. He’s paid double for such a good job in a short time. 

“You’re real quick! I’m surprised you did all that like you did! You some travelling cleaning master or something?” the gym leader, Bugzy asks.

Rust simply shrugs and replied, “I just needed supply money. I was taught to do things quickly and perfectly. Little things like that aren’t anything to praise me over.” 

“Ah, I see… Well, if you’re interested, and are going like, day to day on funds, maybe you can do the league challenge and battle gyms. It’s certainly a way to go for money, and you get neat little badges for beating the leader, along with cash. What do you say? You can even start from here.” Bugzy says.

“I’ll think about it.” Rust replied. Right now, he wanted to go buy some clothes and get out of what he was in. Besides, he couldn’t go that public...

Once in the nearest clothes store, he took his time making his selections, picking out a lavender hoodie, grey hoodie, a red hoodie, several print t-shirts, pants, shorts for when warmer weather hit, and sneakers. He even has enough to get himself a new bag, and put what belongings he had inside, casting away the old one. He bought items like potions, foods, and some of those cheap man-made gems in pouches for sableye. With a rather successful haul, he exits the store, and makes his way towards the back of town.

It’s here he overhears a little girl crying. He pauses within earshot, glancing over at where the commotion had been coming from. He hears as an older father tries to confront one of the black uniformed rockets in town, something about a missing slowpoke of his daughter’s gifted from the late mothers, blah blah Rust can’t stand the sound of crying. So he gears up, and adjusts the blanket he hadn’t bothered to put away around his shoulders as he approaches. 

“What’s going on?” Rust asks, trying not to sound impatient with anyone. 

“What’s it to ya, scarface?” the grunt says.

“Not talkin to you, dumbass. Talking to the kid. What’s the matter?” Rust says. He would’ve crouched down if he didn’t wanna get his blanket dirtier than it was. 

“Oh… uh…” the little girl sniffles, wiping her eyes a bit before she says, “My slowpoke… it hasn’t come home ever since yesterday!”

Oh great. Not only are those things stupid, but they all look extremely similar. But rust couldn’t back out at this point.

“I see… were you trying to get the grumpy jerk to help you?” Rust asks, envisioning the scenario as they talked.

“Y-yeah! But he told me it was probably deeeeeaaaad!” the kid whines.

Rust shoots the grunt a death glare, but even so he says, “Well, the grunt is super dumb. I’d slap the hat off his dumb head. But anyway, I'll try and find your slowpoke for you. What does it look like? Anything specific about them?” 

The kid says, “Well, Slowwy knows his name, his eyes are like the sky, and his coat is a suuper bright light pink, better than any other slowpoke ever! You gotta find him!”

“Alright, fine. I’ll take a look around the well, I think that’s the most likely place. Don’t worry about it.” Rust says. 

And with that, and a sharp kick to the grunt’s shin on his way by, he goes for the slowpoke well. Cubone and sableye by his sides, he climbs down into the well and follows whatever trail he can find. White uniformed grunts were down in the well, as he thought they would be, setting up pokemon to detonate and cause a cave in. So rust, being pretty pissed off, quickly and efficiently took down operations, beating them down with only two pokemon to his name and fainting all potentially exploding pokemon. Luckily, he finds Slowwy unscathed, and the thing slowly climbs onto his back up to his head. The thing slides off of him as soon as they see its partner, and the girl and pokemon are reunited. 

“Thank you, cloaked stranger!” the girl says.

“It's a blanket. And... thanks.” Rust says. 

With this, he heads out of town, pushing over the snotty grunt again and heading for the little base he claimed. He starts the fire up again with the help of supplies, burning the ratty, barely fitting off-white uniform he had, bidding it a final, non-heartfelt farewell as it helped keep his little den warmed. He cooks and eats some of the berries he had over the flames, saving bagged snacks for trips because they would undoubtedly last longer, and drank a bottle of water. He tucks himself into the little sleeping bag and does his best to close his eyes, falling into a light sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rust :) that's all


	3. A Night in the Whirlpools

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, a young girl meets a new friend :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as it says on the tin! there's a bit of action but yeah. no blood, just kids coming close to it and somehow surviving unsurvivable things because they are totally normal children

A girl sits on a cliff with her Eevee, looking over a route not too far from Cianwood City. The wind whips her messy pastel light blue hair around. She glances back down at the trusty old Pokégear she used, waiting for orders from her superior. Finally, a message has arrived. She picks up the device, and goes to read it.

_ MM: Winter, I won’t be able to make it out tonight. Things are changing quickly around here, and i need to prepare myself for tomorrow. I know i can trust things to you, and you know you can use some of my team members if you wish. I’ll see if we can meet tomorrow. _

_ P.s. sleep is important too, so don’t forget. _

Winter just smiles, rolls her eyes, and types her response. She feels sort of bad for the mistress, always dealing with the day-to-day frustrations of whatever evil was beginning to spread in Johto. She wishes the mistress could come around more often, but she understands.

_ I can do that! Don’t you worry! Should I send the younger ones to bed now or in a little while? _

Winter places the gear back in her pocket, and gets up. She heads in the direction of the abandoned safari zone, her Eevee following not too far behind. She can barely remember the tales of what used to be there. It was something about an old rich guy filling a reserve with exotic pokemon from all corners of the world, but falling ill and failing to find a replacement caretaker. Now it was just home to wild, beastly pokemon and some orphans. Heck, she was one of said orphans, and the place was pretty cozy. She liked it there, and it had a place in her heart with the old home she barely remembered. The gear vibrates as it gets another message, and she checks it again.

_ MM: That would be much appreciated, thank you. The little ones should be getting sleep. _

Winter hurries up, and gets to the run-down area. The place is lit with decorative lights, powered by the somehow still functioning generator in the run-down Pokemon center. The main building and center was where all the little kids, all eight and below, mostly stayed, especially when it was cold. Winter and the older kids stayed in tents and little forts outside when it was nice enough to do so. If snow was on its way, everyone would crowd into the buildings and wait it out. There were also kids with families that liked to visit and play, and sometimes even took smaller kids home with them if they knew their parents would be kind enough to take one or two in. In the summertime, kids of all ages would run around and play, colored masks made with anything hung on strings tied around their heads or anywhere they could place them when they didn’t need to have them on. Many kids also had capes and clothes made of old fabric, and frolicked with their pokemon usually kept inside old safari balls. Everyone would be using those muggy nights to play. And when the mistress asks for help, many older and bored kids volunteer to do so. Not that there were many orphans older than she was that could. The kids older than her all seemed to have homes. She was only thirteen, and the oldest of the group besides the mistress. Speaking of, Winter takes out the gear to send a message back.

_ Alright, I’ll get them. _

She has her eevee give the signal. A swift attack is fired into the air, the stars bursting like fireworks.

“Mistress says it’s time for the little kids to sleep! The rest with family should go home too, it’s getting late!!” Winter shouts.

A collective “aww…” fills the area, and many of the kids go home, only leaving food behind, as they know those who are homeless could use it. The orphan kids have to eat somehow, and berries get bland after a while. Tired little kids head for their bunks in either building, yawning and dragging their feet. Some kids stay with the older kids that will allow, wondering what it’s like to sleep in the tents when the weather isn’t too cold to stand. Some big pokemon from the reserve, like Kangaskhan, Chansey, and Arbok find their way into the building, just coming in to snuggle with the small children they like and keep them warm if it gets cold. Some of the children really bonded with the large, motherly pokemon. Winter made her way to each building, telling a bedtime story she made up off the top of her head to the kids that fall right asleep to them. If any are still awake, there’s always a stray Jigglypuff floating through that would sing to make them sleep. Once Winter was done, and many of the younger kids settled down and were sleeping, she left for her nightly rounds. She puts her own mask over her face, and runs for Cianwood city.

Once she’s there, she’s looking around for any hostile figures. She stays in the shadows, and makes sure everything is fine and no one is headed in the direction of her home. Once she sees everything is clear, she brings out her pokemon, a Mantine, and makes her way around whirl islands, looking for people in trouble or suspicious activity. As she moves by one of the northern islands, she could see someone passed out on the sand. She has Mantine simply evade the whirlpool by flying over it, and goes to check out what’s going on with them. She turns the body over to see what the damage is. They looked like a rock hit them by the looks of the bad scrape on their cheek. Their glasses were cracked on the same side as the scrape, and he seemed to have a bloody nose as well. Luckily, he was still breathing. She sighs and picks the kid up, hoping that the girl with the Blissey was still awake when she gets back. She tries to throw him over her shoulder, but he was just a bit bigger than her and it was hard to keep balance. She ended up just having Mantine leap on a wind current and fly her and the boy back to base.

As they were flying, Winter took a moment to keep searching for means of identification for the kid. She searched in pockets for a trainer card, and sure she found one, but even in the moonlight the… glitter on it? Was too bright to even make out any words. She tucks the card back into where she found it, and gave up looking once they got back to base. Luckily the Blissey girl was still awake, and her pokemon helped heal any internal damage to the person she found. They put some band-aids on his scrapes, and winter had to bring him to her own tent. Once the person was set up in Winter’s worn bed, she brought her Eevee back out.

“What do you think of him, Storm?” Winter asks the pokemon.

Storm cautiously walked up to the sleeping person, sniffing him a bit and causing them to stir slightly. Storm proceeds to go lay on their chest, and give a sleepy bark of approval. Winter settles down, and moves her mask off her face.

“So they’re harmless. That’s good.” Winter sighs and sits down, calling the Eevee back over to her.

She takes another moment to look at them. They wore brown shorts and a pretty standard looking light purple adventurer’s jacket with a dark purple shirt underneath. He also wore a strange white cape with light blue diamonds on it and shoes with a design close to that, too. His hair was black and messy, and he sort of smelt like ocean mixed with some weird different scent. She’d have to ask what he was doing at Whirl islands. She was just about to gear up again and head out, but she felt the need to check if he was cold or had a fever or what. She didn’t want a dead body in her house when she got back. She puts a hand to his head, feeling for a temperature.

In that moment, she’s sure she doesn’t actually know how to tell if he’s having a fever.

The kid also opened his eyes as she was trying to figure it out.

He of course screams, making Winter scream, and making her Eevee tackle him. He had quick enough reflexes to throw out a Pokéball that contained, surprise surprise, Another eevee wearing a little cape. The thing knew attract and got her Eevee to cease attacking. He was backed up into the wall of her little tent, his mismatched eyes (one was blue, the other was green) shrunken back in fear.

“W-who are you? Where am I? What’s going on?!” He says, his voice clearly shaky.

“I picked your unconscious ass up from whirl islands. I was trying to check you for a fever. Calm the fuck down.” Winter says.

The boy takes a few moments to breathe. The two stay on opposite sides of the room, and Winter doesn’t make any sudden or threatening moves. When everyone has calmed down a bit, Winter explained to him where he is. The boy calms down a lot more once she promises she could take him back to civilization whenever. He tells her his name is Jack, and that his fathers would probably be worried sick about him by now. He was also the same age as she was. For her, that was kind of a rare thing. She digs into her cooler for some drinks (she just had apple juice and water in there plus a few sodas) and gave him one to have as they talked.

“So why the hell were you at Whirl Islands, anyway?” Winter asked.

“Oh, I was sort of looking for a pokemon my dad always wanted to catch. It’s called a ‘Suicune,’ I think. I was at least hoping to catch a photo of it… but my raft got trapped in a whirlpool when I got too close…” Jack said reaching into his pocket for the digital camera he had on him.

His eyes widen, as the pocket he was sure it was in was just empty. He frantically searches each of his pockets, hoping for at least one to contain that expensive thing.

“First of all, why do you not have a surfing pokemon on your team? Second, why the fuck did you think you’d survive whirl Islands in a fucking  **_Raft_ ** ?!” Winter asks.

“Please cool it with the curses, I think I’m missing my expensive camera and I hope it didn’t go down with the raft! I’m gonna freak if that happened!” Jack says worriedly.

“How about I say what I want? Also, does that camera happen to be a shiny sorta small black box with a weird eye-looking thing on it?” Winter asks.

“Yeah, more or less. Did you see it?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, it was in the sand with you at the island. I didn’t think to pick it up because it just looked like a piece of something that could’ve broke.” Winter answers.

“WINTER PLEASE TAKE ME TO GO GET IT!! I WON'T BE ABLE TO GET A NEW ONE IF IT’S LOST!!!!” Jack shouts, grabbing on to Winter’s hands tightly.

“Relax! I’ll help you get your dumb camera back. Just fucking shut up before you wake up those who are sleeping.” Winter growls.

She gets her Mantine back out, and they both get on. Jack clings onto whatever he can hold, thanking her over and over again and also complaining a bit about the cold. Once they get into whirl island territory they land soundlessly in the water and look around. As they float through, Jack starts to feel a strange pressure in his head. He had felt it before he had nearly drowned in the whirlpools, back when he had the raft. He didn’t like the feeling, and just tried to make sense of what it could be while he sat there. He looked over at Winter, hoping for any signs that maybe she was dealing with the same problem. She seemed just fine. He gazes into the waters around him next, feeling like it would somehow calm him. He did relax slightly. It almost felt like he was being drawn to somewhere below.

“What the fuck…” Winter’s voice breaks the trance.

“Huh…? What’s going on?” Jack asked.

“I see your camera… but I see a stranger close by, too.” Winter says, pointing to an island as she makes him get down.

There on the beach stood a strange person, obviously an older teenager, in an outfit winter could only guess to be a custom diving suit or some weird new futuristic trend. Their hair seemed to be black, a bit grown out as well, and thanks to the moonlight being their only light source, it was hard to tell what skin color he had, or any other definite features. He held what was assumed to be Jack’s camera, just there, figuring out how to work it. 

“Who are they?” Jack whispers.

“How the hell should I know? They look like a weirdo for sure, and divers don’t usually, ya know, dive in cold weather. Could be a human, a disguised pokemon, or straight up a ghost. I don’t like the vibes I'm getting. Let’s take this slowly. I’ll go up to him and talk, you and Manta wait in the water. I dunno if this guy is dangerous or what.” Winter whispered back.

She jumps from mantine’s back, onto the sand. The person notices her quickly and assumes a defensive position, holding the box away from her. Winter got a vibe that says that he’s simply scared and confused, so she decides to put on her talking to small kids attitude.

“Hey, look, it’s okay. I’m not gonna attack you. My pal Jack over there lost his camera, you know? I think that what you got there might be it. Can we have it back?” Winter asked.

The person looks down at the box, and reluctantly holds it out to her. She takes the box, and he does an odd, squarish hand motion. She sort of just nods at him, not sure what it meant.

“Oh! That’s an Alolan hand signal thing! I think it means hello, or peace!” Jack says. 

“Ah. well, hello to you too, stranger. Don’t know if you know what i’m saying, but you know.” Winter says, doing the hand motion back.

She then turns, ready to hop back on the mantine - and oddly enough, the stranger follows her.

“What’s the matter, you lost or something? I mean, I've got plenty of room back home but uhm… I dunno if you can understand me enough to even tell me your name and don’t you have a place you live?” Winter asks. 

“Oh, if you won’t take him, we’ll take that poor lost soul off your hands!” a new voice calls out.

Judging by the look on Winter’s face, the new voice was bad. Winter shoves the stranger towards her water pokemon, just in time and just enough to get him out of the way of an attack fired off by a rock type. Winter gets pinned beneath the rubble, very crushed but somehow still awake and still breathing.

“What shall we do with this little bug? Crush her right now, or just bring her with us?” a female voice asks.

“It seems like every time we leave her to bleed, this one always comes back. Somehow. Perhaps bringing her should be worth it.” a male voice responded.

Jack felt his stomach turn. This was just an awful turn of events. His enemies were in the distance, forms hidden by darkness, simply vague shapes save for the golem they had with them. The traveler makes a small shocked noise, looking between the darkened figures and the girl beneath rubble.

_ “Winter is in trouble. We should do something about that, don’t you think? You wouldn’t want your new friend dead, would you?” _ a familiar voice echoes in his head.

_ “You again, huh? You caused enough trouble already. You might be worse.” _ Jack thought back.

_ “No, you can trust us this time~ I really hate those brats, you know. They’re the ones that hurt my old master. Or at least, they have the same face as the one that did it. Let’s teach them a lesson, right?”  _ Another voice sighs.

_ “Okay, fine. Don’t make me regret letting you out.” _ Jack thinks back, reaching for two Pokéballs on his belt.

He sends out his pokemon, a Drowzee and a Mr. Mime. With no point in stealth, he orders Mr. Mime to attack the golem and Drowzee to help lift rocks off of Winter.

“What are… you doing…? That’s… Scarlet, and Coal… no way a tiny nerd like you could beat them!” Winter growls at Jack, barely able to speak.

“Well I'll never know if i don’t try! And try to save your breath, you could die!” Jack says.

“Fuck off.” Winter hissed.

“Oh? And who’s this Sabrina wannabe over here? Another cute little kid playing adventurer?” Scarlet calls out.

“I think it is. Hmm, should we send him back as a warning, or scoop him up too?” Coal asked his sister.

“I think keep the shorties, send the tall boy. Sabrina boy is just so funny!” Scarlet says.

Sabrina? Who was Sabrina? Jack pondered the question, but his thoughts are interrupted as his Mr. Mime is sent flying back towards him. Oh crap. He has Drowzee move enough stones for him to safely pull winter out, and Drowzee does try to defend but out he goes too. And god, those were his strongest. He knew his eevee couldn’t beat them. He holds onto winter protectively, and can only watch as the enemies came threateningly close.

But then, the stranger that was with them stepped forth. He was rather silent as he looked ahead, an air of anger about him. The twins stand, their golem freezing still.

“Oh? You wish to fight too? Well, alright! What kind of puny pokemon do you have?” Scarlet asks the boy.

The strange teen shakes their head. There they stand.

“You mean to say you have nothing at all? Pathetic. Golem, mow him down!” Coal gives the order. 

The pokemon tosses a big boulder the boy’s way, and the kids thought for sure they were done for. But when jack opened his eyes, he got to see the amazing spectacle that was the boy holding the huge rock that had been flung. He tosses it back full power, and amazingly, the golem is out cold. 

It’s just about now that Jack sees this guy is floating slightly off the ground. Scarlet and Coal seemed shocked to silence.

And then, the boy speaks. “I don’t like you. Goodbye~”

And Jack is treated to watching the strange boy with even stranger powers grab and throw the twins into the water. With that done, he grabs Winter and Jack and sits atop Mantine. They’re off again, Mantine knowing exactly where to go.  “I dunno who you are or what your name is but join my crew. You’re freaking cool.” Winter says to the stranger.”

“Mm-hmm.” they seem to agree to it.

“What… should we call you?” Jack asked.

The stranger humms.

“Don’t you have a name? Anything people call you?” Winter asked.

He shakes his head.

“Wow, weird for your age. What do you wanna be called?” Winter asked.

They shrug.

“Welp, I name pokemon, not people! Any ideas, Jacky?” Winter asked.

“Well, he’s obviously no vacationer. I’d have to say that maybe he lost some memories and had a run in with something like palkia. How about we just call him Rend for now? Like spacial rend, palkia’s move.” Jack suggests.

“Nah, that doesn’t sound right. Whatever! He’s just a weird teen we picked up off the sand. A sandy boy. We could decide a name for him when we see him better in the morning.” Winter says.

“Alright, sounds like a plan. I need to sleep off these aches anyway.” Jack says.

They make it to base, and settle down in Winter’s tent. Winter is asleep almost instantly, and the fallen stranger they picked up watched the sky intently before finally falling asleep. Not wanting to really sleep yet, Jack checks to see if his recovered camera still works. To his luck, it's just fine, and he scrolls through his pictures.

The first was just… a picture of the sky. It was clear and pretty, actually. It was definitely worth saving. The next picture was just the water. Jack wondered why he even had that, and looked over the picture for anything he wasn’t seeing. Slowly, he managed to make out the shape of a massive pokemon. He wishes he knew what  _ that  _ was about. He moved to the next picture; it just looked like a depiction of drowning. It probably was him nearly drowning in the whirlpool. He couldn’t even remember taking these. There was one last one. He views it, and is surprised to see a picture of a blue pokemon with a flowing purple mane and a coat that shined like crystals.

Jack squealed excitedly. That was Suicune! He couldn’t believe his luck. Was it the thing to save him from that whirlpool? It must have been! He holds that lucky camera close to him, happy to just have the picture. It was even clear enough to see all the details from that angle! He calms himself and tucks the camera back safely into the pocket it belonged in. He curls up in the spot he chose to sit, feeling almost too excited to sleep.


	4. Rituals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daily routines for Azure, and familiar patterns for Hayune.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Celebi likes the cool holographic cards :)

Azure wakes up in the morning, coming slowly out of a comforting dream. She rises slowly, giving herself time to adjust slowly. Vris gets up at the sound of her yawn, stretching and then licking her trainer’s face as houndooms do. It kinda burns slightly, due to Vris being a fire type and all, but Azure has gotten used to her partner pokemon’s little odds and ends. They get up, Azure gets dressed, brushes her hair and Vris’ as well, brushes her teeth, and goes down the hall to the cafeteria area for breakfast. 

With a bagel and some juice gotten from there, she strolls along to her father’s workroom, not making much of an effort to seem above anyone, just remaining casual, and still kinda tired, occasionally walking with the bagel in her mouth to have a free hand to wave at someone with. She’s usually met with shunning or a rude comment regardless of her efforts, but sometimes some wave. Once she gets to the spot, she spots her mother just outside, conversing with a lady with mismatched eyes, brunette hair, and a kind demeanor. Again, the face seemed familiar. She lightly taps her mom’s shoulder, prepared to inquire about this visitor. 

Her mom spins around to face her, smiling as she does. “Good morning sweetheart! Do you remember Lyra, dear?” She asks.

Azure hums, searching her brain hard for a moment. “Not well, sorry. But she seems pretty familiar.” she answered.

“It’s fine. We haven’t been in touch lately, and hey, you only reunited with Hayune yesterday.” Lyra says.

And with that, it clicks. “Oh, you must be Hayune’s mom! Does that mean his dad’s here too?” Azure asks.

Lyra nods and says, “He sure is. Gold and your father are having a little… discussion.”

As if on cue, there’s the sound of a large pokemon hitting the door, and the roar of a typhlosion. Azure kinda tenses up, prepared to send Vris to fight. But Crystal gives her daughter a reassuring pat on the back.

“They’re fine, that’s kind of how they settle disagreements. And when they’re done things will be fine, promise.” Crystal says. 

“Yeah, we’ll be here to stop them if things go overboard. In the meantime, I believe my little boy got the job of being your guardian, right? He’s waiting outside.” Lyra says. 

Oh yeah. That. Azure says,”Okay… but usually I ask if dad has any errands, and otherwise i think he gets anxious if i just leave…” 

“It will be fine! I’ll just tell him I sent you and if anything just bring him back a cherry soda. Go ahead and have fun with a friend!” Crystal tells her.

She feels a bit better with the permission, and says, “Okay… I'll get going then, thanks. I’ll bring you something too.”

“Aww, thanks sweetie. Have fun!” Crys says, giving a little wave as Azure walks on by, then she goes back to talking with Lyra.

She takes her time, kind of anxious and kind of just wanting to finish her bagel before seeing him. She crossed paths with Daisy once again, and the two talked. Well, more like she let Daisy ramble and listened, nodding every now and again even if only about half of the information was connecting between her worries and interest. But she was trying to listen at least. Something about a mission to go on today and how it’s highly possible it will end horribly simply due to nobody listening. Something like that. Didn’t help too much with her anxiety, but, you know. What can one do in a fucked up world like this?? She simply swallows the last bits of her bagel.

“What do you think I should do?? Should I try to stop them?? Or? I really don’t know…” Daisy says.

“Hmm… maybe just say I gave you permission maybe? I’d hope they’d listen if it came from me to you to give you permission to stop whatever bullshit they plan. Did that make sense?” Azure answered.

“It made enough sense. Anyhow, sorry for taking up any time! Go hang out with Hayune, enjoy yourself for once. And uh, maybe try to stick by him this time? N-not that you’d abandon a friend, but, like… it’s sort of a best interest thing. You know what I mean?” Daisy says.

She sort of did. If anything, it was another one of her odd predictions. Azure figured she’d try to heed the warning.

“Alright, i’ll do that. Don’t worry…I’ll see you whenever, I guess. Do you want me to bring you something back?” Azure asked.

“Huh?? Wait, wouldn’t this usually be the other way around? You’re kind of a higher-up.” Daisy says. 

Azure shrugs and says, “I dunno, i just feel like I should do more than just fuck off to the middle of nowhere with a dude I haven’t talked to in years… plus you kinda talk to me more than most anyway, so consider it a reward for keeping me company… i guess.” 

“Like… a sort of friendship thing??” Daisy asks.

Azure bit her cheek a bit, thinking on that now. Were they friends, or was it just part of Daisy’s job description to check in with her? She was never really sure. Sometimes that was the case for some grunts. She decides to answer, “If you think we really are friends, or could be, then sure. Now do you want a sandwich, a pokedoll, or what?” 

Daisy smiled. It seemed to make her happy. Maybe?? “Well, I think you’re saying we’re friends, so.. Cool! I’ll try to find you something cool too. Uhh, as for what you bring me… maybe something for Fluffy?? Or a soda, soda’s fine.” Daisy says.

“Okay. I’ll try and find you later.” Azure says.

“Okay!! Bye, Azure! Don’t forget what i said please!” Daisy says, and then off she runs.

Did she make her happy or anxious? Azure was never sure. But she takes her focus off of that, and takes a deep breath. She had drinks to get people. That, and an old friend to spend time with. All she had to do was relax, and not forget the few things to bring back. She steps outside, and oh god a grunt’s already bothering Hayune. He seemed kind of uncomfortable. She goes ahead and approaches. He pretty much noticed her right away. He runs over, hugs her and spins her around, making her kinda dizzy as he did so.

“Azy!! Good to see you again! How’s your morning??” Hayune asks, cheery as ever. The grunt glares at them and stalks off.

“I’m pretty alright. It’s good to see you too. Was that other guy causing you any problems…?” Azure asked him.

“Nahh, it’s alright! He didn’t bother me at all. Just did his job of bein’ suspicious and all that.” Hayune says.

“But your parents were inside… weren’t they aware of all of you coming?” Azure asked.

“Bold of you to assume dad didn’t get upset the moment i accidentally let this all slip, tagged along with me and forced his way in to see his ol’ buddies with mom helping him keep minimal damage!” Hayune answered cheerily.

She was not exactly sure how to respond, she mutters, “That’s true, I guess…”

He grabs her hands and says, “Yeah, but don’t worry! Our moms are there for damage control if things go awry. Totally not our problem right now! Anywhere you wanna go today?”

“I mean… the only specific thing I have to do is buy sodas for people.”

“Ok, that can totally happen on our way back! You wanna hang out in the Ilex forest a bit? It’s pretty calm there. We can catch pokemon, have lunch if we go by foot the whole way, and head to the daycare after and you can pet baby mons!”

“That… actually sounds pretty nice. Let’s do it.” 

With that, he grabs her hand, and guides her along quickly and off they go. They take some time to chat with each other on their little journey to the forest. It was actually pretty calming, and Azure quickly became relaxed around him. They stopped here and there, once in the middle of a cave and once in Azalea town to take a small breather, and grab things like water and some sandwiches. 

“You think we need all that for a picnic just for the two of us? It seems like a lot…” Azure observes, counting about four different sandwiches, varieties of chips, and drinks, even if Azure simply requested water and one sandwich with regular chips. 

“Well sure, why not? Besides, if we have more we’ll have some stuff for later. Don’t worry about it! You ready to go?” Hayune Asks.

She stands up, thinking for a moment. “Yeah… I think I'm good. At least for the walk to a nice spot. The air is still cold, the trees may be barren and the ground tougher than I first anticipated, but I like the sound of a quiet forest over a noisy town. I’ll be able to make the trip.”

“Yeah, and maybe we should just eat at the daycare… I kinda managed to forget it’s cold out.” Hayune says, laughing a bit. 

“I getcha… it's kinda like you miss the warm weather so much and want to do warm weather things you forget it’s not quite that time of the year yet… I was kinda wrapped up in it too. But we can go wherever you want to, so long as i get what’s necessary on our way back home.” Azure says.

“Yeah, that’s totally it!! I’m glad you get it… shall we get going?” Hayune asked cheerily.

She nods, and off they go into the forest. It's somewhat quiet, but populated with a few ice types enjoying the wintery air and evergreen trees. She stays close to him, holding his hand and just remembering some of the more cryptic things Daisy said earlier. She hoped Daisy would be okay…

And as a matter of fact, she wondered if something would happen here. Daisy warned her to stay close to Hayune after all. Azure could absolutely hold her own, she thinks, at least for a while. So perhaps it would be something she’d need to work with him on to handle.

“Oh! Hey Azy, think we can make a short detour off the trail to the shrine? I just wanna leave a thing.” Hayune says.

“Alright, we can. I’m perfectly fine with it…” Azure says.

Hayune leads the way to the shrine, knowing well where to go, seeming confident in his choices. Azure follows along, comforted by his assumed confidence. They get to the clearing, and there lies the shrine in all of its glory. Strangely enough, any dirt, snow, and general muck seemed to avoid the shrine entirely, along with the surrounding area. It was serene, and oddly quiet. Azure almost didn’t want to move, just soak in the calm of the area. But hayune moved forward, letting go of her hand momentarily to pull something out of his bag - a small stack of pokemon cards, some crumpled, some fine, and one little foil one that she was sure Hayune wouldn’t let go of unless he felt it was important to do so. He places the cards down on the little ridge in front of the shrine’s tiny doors, and muttered something softly that Azure couldn’t quite make out. He spins around, a bright smile aimed at her, and walks back over. 

It was just then that Azure heard something else move around, just behind her. Instantly her hands fly to her pockets, and she brings her pokemon out just in time for Vris to torch a scyther that nearly had her in its claws. Hayune brings his Sylveon out as well, prepared to have a showdown with the thugs that had crossed paths with them. He even brandished his baseball bat, absolutely prepared to fight with it. 

“So what’s a couple of brats doin’ in the woods? It’s dangerous ya know!!” one says, sending out a nidorino that clashes with Azure’s houndoom.

“I know that! Why do you think I'm checkin in on the shrine anyway?? To make sure people like you aren’t messing it up!” Hayune says, having his sylveon obliterate one of the opponent’s dark types with moonblast. 

The two hold their own for quite some time. Azure is quick with reflexes, careful to keep a distance herself while Vris follows commands to a tee. Hayune and Valentine are a bit more rough around the edges and brutal for two rather harmless seeming entities, but both have trust in what each of them is doing. Together, they chipped away at their opponent’s available pokemon little by little. There was an air of frustration with their opponents, and they really weren’t doing too well.

One reaches for another ball on their belt. “I’ve had enough of you two! Kadabra, get these brats out of here!”

Out comes a Kadabra, and Azure and Vris are already prepared with a foul play attack. But Kadabra had gotten too close to her, and it teleports Azure away from the area just before Vris’ attack hits and KO’s the pokemon. She lands hard, down one pokemon but at the very least still having Vris’ pokeball. She takes a moment to get her breath back, since it just got knocked out of her entirely. Great.

She takes a moment to test out her joints, prepared to feel the aftermath of the hard landing. Her left hip is a bit out, her right wrist stung pretty terribly, and her chest kind of ached, and not in an emotional way. Welp, there’s been worse than that. She pulls herself up a bit, and her hands meet something soft. Her heart kind of stops as the terrible idea of crushing some small innocent pokemon with her entire body in a horrible deadly twist of fate. After a moment, she dared to look.

Good news, it wasn’t a pokemon.

Bad news, it was a person. And she wasn’t too sure on the living and not broken status, because their face was firmly planted in dirt. 

She quickly gets off of them, and ever so carefully flips them over, and brings out her Meowstic, Nightmare for help in diagnosing. The scar across their face at least seemed like it wasn’t inflicted by her, and was rather old. She checks his pulse and such, and all seems well, thankfully. Once she’s confirmed she doesn’t need to dig a grave on the spot, she just kind of stares. She notes his hair was white, every little bit down to his eyelashes. It was neat to see, and she knew he had some genetic mutation. It had a name with an A, she knew, but all her memory wanted to do was chant, “Shiny human encounter!” Over and over, losing the word deeper in her thoughts. Albinism.

Welp, snapping herself out of that pitfall of brain distractions, she focuses on figuring out how to heal him up. She had very few potions due to letting Hayune carry most of them, and what she had before she used during the battle. So, she figured she’d search this dude’s pockets for any potions or pokemon that could get the job done. She was kinda hesitant, but reminded herself that it was best to treat before something bad happened. She was kinda spooked about waking him up too, not sure why, but god she was getting tired of this scatterbrain moment. TIME TO FOCUS THE SEARCH. Besides, why would he wake up anytime soon? Usually in movies she probably had a good 5 minutes to search haphazardly. She digs around in all his pockets fearlessly. Something hard and sorta steely, something paper, a questionably textured thing… oh, round thing!

Oh, and movies usually lie about things like time and injuries. He woke up a few moments after she started digging around. He wasn’t very pleased at all with this. But even so he figured he could probably take her in a fight, so he waited to see what the hell she was doing. Her pokemon didn’t even alert to him waking up, it just stared at him intensely.

It took her about 5 minutes to realize he was up. He got to watch her as she simply glanced through the red plastic of the pokeballs, figured out he had a switchblade, flicked a lighter a couple times, and found nothing else that could help if he were seriously injured. She then put everything back with a small sigh, looking up as she moved and stretched her right wrist, eyes trailing up his body, looking for a backpack. That’s when she saw his dark red eyes and unamused expression. He got to watch as her face was quickly covered in a red blush as her mind let her know now how bad this looked.

“I’m not robbing you!” She blurts out quickly.

Okay, that was kind of funny. But nonetheless, he wasn’t quite convinced.

He responds, “What the hell are you doing then? You some sort of perv?”

Instantly she’s five feet away. She exclaims, “Excuse you no i’m not!! Some jackass just randomly teleported me away from my friend and I happened to land right on you and knock you out so I simply checked your vitals to make sure you weren’t killed by my landing and I searched your pockets because I ran out of potions I don’t have healing pokemon so I thought hey!!! You might have something more than I do and I wanted them to make sure that you wouldn’t die of like internal bleeding or a broken neck or or or-”

“Okay, I get it, chill. Why are you even worrying about some stranger? Don’t you have to get back to your pal?” he asked.

“Look!! I just wanted to make sure I didn't kill you or leave you to die! Geez…” She says, a hand over her chest as she begins to calm, “Besides, he’ll be okay for a bit. And Vris can do well even when I'm not around to give orders. Everything is probably over and done by now…” 

Now that was quite a statement. And it was also a bit shocking to him that she was making sure he was alright. It almost made him a bit confused. So he sits himself up, rubbing an eye, and wonders if she was still after something of his.

“...Thanks, I guess. Who the hell are you?” Rust asked.

She seemed hesitant to answer. “Azure… and you?”

Azure. That name definitely clicked something with him. Something… bittersweet. He knew what guilt felt like well, but this other feeling was a new one. Something nice, in a way. But there was a lot of guilt. Now it was his turn to feel unsure.

“... It’s Rust. Pretty lackluster, isn’t it?” He says.

It seems almost as if the deja-vu he had wasn’t quite shared. She gave a little, somewhat pitying smile and says, “I wouldn’t say that. It’s unique.”

A bit of an awkward silence passes. Rust isn’t sure how to respond or feel about this familiar stranger. She’s taking time to think of how to word things, and letting her meowstic sit upon her shoulder.

“Anyway… I know I didn't do much but cause a scene, but… I’ll make it worth your while if you can help me find my way back to the shrine. I don’t know how to navigate this place at all…” Azure says.

He thinks for a moment, and then stands up. “Ah, what the hell. Not like I was doing much else. Come on. Shouldn’t be far if you run.” 

He takes a moment to stretch, then off he goes. She follows as quickly as she can. Though a run for the rather athletic Rust isn’t quite as easy for Azure, and not because of the reason anyone would think of. By the time they make it back, she collapses onto the patch of soft green, out of breath from the five minute straight run on uneven forest terrain. Rust glances back at her, scowling.

“What’s the matter now?” He asks.

“Did I… ever……mmh...” she takes a moment to get more air in, “... I have a… asthma…” 

Oh. 

“Well shit, couldn’t you have said something earlier?” Rust says.

“Excuse me… for… barely bein’ able… to breathe…!” she growls.

“Is it really that bad?” Rust asked.

She motions for him to come closer. He does, crouching down in front of her, and she grabs his hand and presses it over her heart. Obviously, it was going very quickly. She gives him a look that spelled out “Not impressed.”

“Holy shit how are you alive?? How do you live?” Rust asked.

She responds by lying on her back, flat on the ground. Completely spreading out, and giving a small gesture with her hands.

“What about your friend?” Rust asked.

She gave him a dirty look.

“...right. Like you’d be any help like that.” Rust answered himself for her.

So he simply sits there with her a bit, doing his best to help while she looks for her inhaler. Soon after, someone else is heard as they enter the area. Rust glances, and for a moment, his blood runs cold. The sight of this new person gave the sensation of every emotion button being pressed at one time. Fear, guilt, anger, confusion, familiarity, more odd feelings… it was such a garbled mix of things, it almost made him want to lay down and pass out again. And yet he felt like he couldn’t move. No matter what, he couldn’t budge. He couldn’t even speak.

But they weren’t focused on Rust. by the whole demeanor they had, he could tell it was Azure’s pal.

“Azy!!! Oh gosh, are you alright?!?! What happened?!?!?!?!?!” Hayune says, and he rushes over to her, looking for wounds and such.

She still couldn’t breathe well, so Rust swallowed the balloon animal in his throat and says, “It's asthma, according to her. You carry her medicine for her or some shit?”

“What? Asthma???” Hayune says, absolutely clueless.

“What, that news to you too?” Rust says.

“Well… yeah. It’s very new to me! I was never told! 100% news to me!” Hayune says. 

“The hell are you gonna do now then?! What if she dies?!” Rust shouts.

“Please don’t say that!! She won’t die!” Hayune says.

“...I won’t… just… give me water and the thing I handed you earlier… stop freaking out, really…” Azure mutters.

Hayune provides it quickly, and Azure slowly picks herself up, Rust and Hayune slowly helping her into a sitting position. After a couple minutes, she tries to stand up, but she turns very pale and sits back down. It’s no good.

“Okay, maybe we should get her out of here… you wanna come with us Rust? I’ve got a place to go where she can lay down.” Hayune says.

“I guess. How’d you know my name?” Rust asked.

“Didn’t you guys mention it?” Hayune responds.

Not in the mood to inquire further, Rust simply stands up. “You’ve got a bag full already. I’ll carry Azure.”

“Fair enough!! I got some sandwiches too that we were gonna eat for lunch, so it’s probably good for Azy to eat once we get there, and I brought two cuz I usually eat two, but I'll give you one of mine!” Hayune says.

“Good.” Rust responds simply, and he picks Azure up. He holds her kind of awkwardly, but it was good enough for the time being.

They make it to the daycare, and Hayune has Rust sit Azure down in the spare bedroom, giving her the food she had picked out for herself earlier, then joins Rust back in the main area, where a table sat where they could eat. Hayune sets the sandwiches and other treats down, and begins to eat his share. Rust eats as well, only he’s a lot faster. He must’ve been hungry for a proper meal. 

“So, uh… tell me about yourself…?” Hayune says.

“No. Who are you?” Rust responds through a mouthful of food.

“Well, my name’s Hayune… I'm the son of a Dexholder, Gold the hatcher, and I've heard my mom described as a mysterious lady. Her name’s Lyra. She’s good at shiny hatching. I’m good at batting stuff and telling how a pokemon feels, and sometimes I can make accurate predictions!” Hayune says.

Rust swallows his food and says, “Really now? Do some predicting then.”

“Well…" Hayune says, humming a bit, “Oh! Well, perhaaaps… it will rain soon, tomorrow soon, the best thing in your life will come in a pinkish ball form, aaand you and i will be good friends someday!”

“Hmph. You sure about all that?” Rust says.

“Yeah!” Hayune says, absolutely not convincing even himself.

“I’m not so sure about you. Something bugs me. That Azure girl’s tolerable at least, maybe even a little…” he wants to use the word cute, but no. every other use of that word he’s heard ever was condescending, he assumes it's synonymous with stupid. “...interesting. But you’re different from her interesting. Something’s off with you. I don’t like the way you make me feel.”

“Do I… remind you of someone that wronged you? It must be the case, I don't think we’ve spoken before… I mean, I'll apologize on their behalf if you want me to. Really, I don't want bad blood between us, you know?” Hayune says. He hoped he didn’t sound as anxious as he felt.

Rust seemed to have a hard time believing. And yet, he couldn’t pull anything up in memory. “I… I don’t know. This is weird. I… I'm not used to being around others for long, I guess. But I still can’t shake this fucking stupid feeling!” he stands up and says, “Maybe I should just go, I can’t deal with all this shit. It’s been a rough week.” 

“Hold on a sec! Don’t you think it’s a good idea to trade numbers? I’ll give you Azure’s too, and I’m sure it’s gonna rain so maybe I could arrange for you to stay somewhere warm?” Hayune says quickly.

“...Number?” Rust says.

“Oh, you don’t know what a phone is do you…” Hayune says.

“No shit.”

“Well, it’s decided then! Rust, lemme buy you a phone, I’ve got money and Goldenrod city’s right there!”

“Wha- but what about Azure? You just gonna leave her?!”

“Right, umm… I’ll go buy you a phone and you can watch after her with the other pokemon! Sound good?”

“Whatever, just be quick.”

“Will do! Be nice to Azy, don’t crowd her, and if she needs more water we’ve got a mini fridge around!”

And with that, Hayune speeds off before Rust can get another word in. He sighs. He really, really considered just leaving. But then, he didn’t want to leave her alone, he felt bad. So he finishes his meal, maybe steals some bites from the sandwich Hayune left unattended, then goes to sit by Azure. She does seem to be a bit better, but very tired too. She gives him her phone, opened to an article about the specific illness she had and had him read. It took up just enough time for Hayune to return and give Rust the brand new phone, and Rust picks up quickly how to use it and get their numbers registered. 

By the end of their time together, Azure is able to stand again and Hayune even sends him on his way with a pokemon from the daycare too: a Scatterbug, which he names Velvet later. Before he goes, Azure and Hayune stop him one last time.

“So, since we’re friends now, I guess… a bit at least, I'd like to see more of you whenever you’re available. It was nice to hang out.” Azure says.

He hums and says, “Yeah, it wasn’t terrible…”

“Yeah! Hey Rust, do you feel at all comfortable with a hug before you go?” Hayune asked.

“What… is a hug?” Rust says.

“Promise to not be mad if we show you?” Hayune asks.

“I guess. Just show me.” Rust says.

The two give him a little hug. He froze and was very ready to hit, but when nothing violent happened he calmed down. He actually… really liked this. A lot. It was nice. He didn’t know there was a name for something like that. With that hug goodbye, he’s back on his way, to the base in the forest where he prepared some meals for his pokemon and introduced the new addition.

...Honestly, he wouldn’t mind it if it rained tomorrow.


	5. Dark Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy is subject to those of her team that don't like to listen. but luckily, she meets someone that believes in her unconditionally...
> 
> this chapter takes place during chapter 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> featuring a ton of throwaway grunts that piss me off! tw for bullying

_ Meanwhile… _

A group of five black suited grunts head up to Mahogany town, a Neutral area of the region, occupied by neither Silver nor Sird’s versions of team Rocket. But today, there would be an attempt at change. The five would be tasked with surveying the town and surrounding area, looking for an ideal spot to set up base, preferably an abandoned building to buy up and renovate. It was a small town, in which the current gym leader’s life hung on fraying, small threads. The old man, Pryce, was on his deathbed. Nobody has come to claim his gym for their own yet, no champion nor anyone that would help the upkeep of the place. He had no daughters, sons, or otherwise. Knowing the gym would soon come to its close, the town would see less and less traffic, some trainers even daring to waltz in and steal the badge, either for journey’s sake or to sell as a collector’s item.

Needless to say, Mahogany town was slowly being swallowed by a ghostly absence. 

The group of grunts consist of Mark, Eve, Yui, Kano, and Daisy. Mark leads the way, fooling around with Eve and Yui, while Kano kept to himself. Daisy was anxious as they approached the outskirts of the town, remembering her dream of earlier. She tried to say something earlier, but all she got in response was Eve’s remark of, “did anyone hear that? No? Yeah, thought so. Maybe say something less insane sounding next time?”

So off they went, and Daisy stayed mostly quiet until now, as per Fluffy’s recommendation as well. _ “If they don’t listen, let em’ get what’s comin’ to them! Who cares?!” _ Fluffy had told her.

But she wasn’t one to be like that. She had to try at least one more time.

“Hey guys?” Daisy says.

Kano stops short, causing her to bump into him a bit, and the others simply slow. “Whaaat, have another fakey fortune to tell?” Yui says.

“N-no, I’m just telling you the same thing i said before - we should at least go talk to the gym leader first… it’s much less dangerous! There’s a chance we could be killed if we just go poking around…” Daisy proclaimed, doing her best to stand tall and speak clearly.

There was a pause of the group, the girls snickering. Mark turns around, looking to face her as Kano moves aside, and says, “Alright.” 

Daisy smiles, sighing in relief, “Oh thank goodness, I didn’t wanna go into detail and i’m so glad you decided-”

Mark pushes her with a finger and says, “ _ You _ can go talk to that old fart. Good luck getting a coherent answer. Take Kano if he hates fun too.  _ We _ are going to the abandoned building to explore and clear it out. Now, any complaints?”

“B-But-”

“But nothing. You’re the one wanting to shirk your work. We all know boss hates the oldie for arceus knows why, so I think even if you get something before the guy turns to dust, Silver’s gonna turn it down. Even you know it’s a pointless visit! So just shut up and take what you get. You’re lucky none of us are dragging you along by the hair.” He retorts. 

With that, they split up at the entrance. Kano and Daisy walk deeper into town. At a crossroads, Kano stops her for a moment. She looks over at him, and he’s pointing at a sign that points towards the lake of rage, advertising a gift shop selling Rage-Candybars. The man of little to no words gives a slight, pleading look. 

Daisy sighs, puts a hand on his shoulder, then whispers, “If you promise me not to go to the abandoned building, then go nuts. Even the potential gyarados are safer than over here. I don’t think anything’s at the gift shop.” 

Kano smiles, then leaves for the bars. Hey, at least it was one person! It’s more than usual that even slightly listen, which is zero! So off she goes, to see that gym leader. He should be over at the hospital in town, taking it easy. She takes a few steps towards her quest…

And is stopped when she hears what sounds like a bird pokemon hitting a window at high speeds. Except it wasn’t that, when Daisy turned around, she saw that Mark had punted a Delibird she hadn’t even seen before. From the sound of his mocking, it was blocking the door to the abandoned building. So of course she rushes over to it, unseen by the others as they stepped inside.

“Oh gosh, poor delibird… are you gonna be alright? Where does it hurt?” Daisy asks, picking it up ever so carefully and inspecting the kicked area.

Delibird, flapping his wing slightly, honks back, _ “I’ll be fine, worse has been dealt before… though a little snack wouldn’t hurt. I like trail mix.” _

“I have that!!” Daisy says, and digs in her travel bag for the tiny package of it, splitting it open and offering it to Delibird. 

Delibird takes the bag, easing back to sit against the wall and enjoy his snack.  _ “Why thanks, young lady. You’re kind and special. I’ll get you a gift.”  _

“It’s okay, you don’t need to… Besides, I need to stop those other guys, and you just reminded me of one more trick up my sleeve. Everything’s gonna be okay… I’ll check back on you later, alright?” Daisy says.

Delibird nods, “ _ Stay safe, dearie. _ ” 

Thus, Daisy presses on after the three that went into the building. They were currently investigating a discovered stairwell leading downstairs, next to a toppled over display case with decaying items and moldy papers inside, and sealed only by a board that opened upwards, like it were a hidden cellar. The room gave an air of fear, which the others seemed to do their best to ignore as they surrounded the stairwell, giggling over who to send down first.

“Hey! It wasn’t very nice to kick that delibird!” She shouts over to them.

They collectively roll their eyes. She could tell she wasn’t quite welcomed here. But still, even if they were jerks, she still didn’t want anybody dying. This was the last attempt she had. It was now, or game over for those three, possibly all of them depending on how things went.

“What are you blabbering about?” Eve says.

“What delibird? You’re even crazier than usual.” Mark lies.

“I thought you were going to talk to the gym geezer.” Yui adds.

“I was until I saw what you guys did!” Daisy takes a bold few steps forward, continuing, “I’ve had it up to here with you guys not listening! I’m only trying to help, don’t you understand? I didn’t want to have to say this, but…” 

“But what?” Mark asks mockingly.

“Miss Azure gave me conditional authority! If you guys were misbehaving or doing something stupid she gave me permission to take control and stop you guys, to direct the mission towards its goal on the safest route possible! S-so listen to me and you’ll live, got it?!” Daisy exclaimed. She was upset and frustrated, and maybe her voice broke a few times, but she was desperate for them to listen.

The girls begin to laugh, but Mark gives a motion for them to stop, and they do. “Azure, huh… the boss’ daughter. That one, right?” he asks.

Daisy nods, not quite certain her voice will hold for a vocal yes. Mark gives a charming smile.

“I see, I see. That’s a pretty special request then, leader.” He extends a hand, “C’mon, let’s make it official. I’ll pass the job on to ya.”

Daisy goes to shake his hand quickly. Finally, they’d be getting out. She just wanted this over with, and here they were, everything would be fine - 

But he grabs her wrist, twisting it hard, and pulling her over by the steps. He was much stronger and she couldn’t get out of his grasp. It hurt horribly, and Fluffy was unfortunately in his pokeball, unable to do anything but desperately attempt to trigger the failsafe mechanism that would let him out to bite this son of a bitch.

“So, leader~ you’ll be the first to see what’s downstairs. Good luck.  _ You’ll need it. _ ” Mark says.

With that, she’s flung down the stairs. Nobody stopped him. Everyone just laughed. She twisted around in the air for the moment she was in it, trying so hard to find something to hold, save herself the fall, but there was nothing to grab. She landed atop that twisted wrist, which snapped in half due to the abuse and her weight. The door above slammed shut and locked from the outside, even the display case shoved over it for the sick pleasure at another’s expense, but she couldn’t even care because of that horrible pain of a broken wrist. She laid there, sobbing, crying for sometime. She couldn’t even hear what was happening upstairs.

But after a while, she knew she shouldn’t just lay down and die here. She picks herself up, sniffling, cradling the arm. She knew the door wouldn’t do good. It was pitch black down there, barely any sights to see beyond brain illusioned figures in the dark. But more importantly, she started to hear the sound of footsteps, echoing, bouncing off the metal halls. She tried to get Fluffy out, but misfortune had it that she landed on that pokeball too. She’d need to visit the pokemon center to get Fluffy out and transfer his pokeball. She was at the mercy of mystery.

“W-who’s th-there…?” Daisy whimpered. She meant to sound braver, but it was pretty hard right now.

A calm, softened for comfort voice answered, “A simple explorer. I come down here for trinkets all the time… and I heard you fall. What happened?” 

Daisy tried to explain calmly at first, but couldn’t about half way through. “Th-they said they would listen, b-but all he did was push me downstairs a-and i broke my wr-wrist, it just hurts so much and all I wanna do is go back home!!!”

A hand in the dark finds her, gently petting her head. “Aw, i’m so sorry… let me help you, at least a bit. I can set it for you, which should help things. You’ll still need a cast or chansey at the end of the day, though. And i warn you, it’s painful.” the girl says sweetly.

“O-okay…” Daisy says, and offers up the injured arm. The girl feels along it for the noticeably broken spot, and when it's found it burns with pain just from touch. Daisy is about to change her mind on this, but before she can speak up the other girl goes through with it, causing Daisy to cry out in agony. The girl simply holds her close in a strong embrace until she stopped, an odd but effective way of calming in this dark. Her outfit was an odd mixture of soft yet sturdy, and when the pain stopped being that overwhelming she realized this girl smelt sort of like fancy perfume, mixed with something indescribable. 

“Alright, you seem better now. I think there’s a light switch down a few halls, so let’s go on and find that. I kind of dropped my light down a hole in the ground, so it's blind games from here on out.” the girl says.

“Alright. I can handle that… but please don’t run ahead.” Daisy says.

“Okay, I understand. I had my pokemon upstairs too, so us girls will have to stick together~ even if this place doesn’t even have ghost types. We’ll be bathed in light in no time.” the girl says.

“Okay, c-cool…” Daisy says, and uses her good hand to hold the other girl’s hand. She felt long nails gently graze her skin, along with a rough and calloused hand on her own, much softer one. She could tell this girl was tough, probably worked her whole life...

Wait, bad things are upstairs!

“Hold on, your pokemon may be in trouble up there, we should hurry fast!” Daisy says, keeping time with the girl’s steps as they followed the walls and sidestepped obstacles.

“Oh? They’ll be able to handle your delinquent bullies. That’s a piece of cake.” she says.

“N-no, something more… they’re in trouble too.” Daisy says.

“How do you know?” the girl asked.

“W-well… I… I-I can’t tell. You wouldn’t believe me. Nobody does, like, ever…” Daisy responds.

“Oh, are you sure? I’ve seen a lot of strangeness. Come on, hit me with it.” The girl retorts.

“Well… okay. Ever since I could remember, I've always had this odd power to predict certain things that happen. Sometimes it's as simple as knowing when an egg will hatch, other times it’s seeing another person get seriously injured or even die. I try to tell people about what I see, but they always…. They always call me a liar. All i am to them is Crazy Daisy…” Daisy explains.

“Wow…” the girl whispers, then cheers, “You can actually predict the future! That’s so magical~ and who the hell wouldn’t listen to a fortune teller? If you can talk to pokemon too, it makes you a viridian forest born i think, and that’s rare as fuck, really who the hell wouldn’t take what you have to say seriously? Death-wishing idiots, that’s who. Honestly.”

“You… actually believe me?” Daisy asks.

“Well, no duh. I’d be crazy not to, Daisy. The boy who broke your wrist deserves a trip down the stairs himself for all the disrespect.” the girl answers.

Daisy smiles, overjoyed that for once, somebody actually, directly believes her. Without question on top of it, too. It was like a dream! “Th-thanks… nobody’s ever said that to me before… but s-seriously, we gotta go. Your mons will be in trouble, there’s a guy up there, super dangerous, part of white TR, bad news.”

The girl giggles a bit. “Don’t worry. I get what you're saying, and my mons are well trained, all of them. If it's too much, they can run away. I promise, everything will be fine.”

“O-okay. I’ll trust you…” Daisy says. 

With that, after some traveling and the girl prying open a door, a switch is found. Finally, no more dark! The adventurous girl does the honors, and the room buzzes to life. At first the light is absolutely blinding, but Daisy’s eyes adjust swiftly to see the girl standing there with her. She had beautiful red hair, done up in long, flowing pigtails that curled elegantly down reaching just below her chest, and her hair was probably even longer if it were down all the way. Besides shimmering red hair, she had clear skin, peach colored eyes, beautiful eyelashes and lips painted a dark reddish-purple, and wore a kimono esc uniform that seemed a bit big, but covered her well enough, and even had a wrap style dress piece that showed off a thigh. She was absolutely gorgeous. And Daisy knew her name well, all of her team rocket knew it too.

She was Scarlet. 

And everything about her took Daisy’s breath away. Everything.

Scarlet grins at Daisy, taking in her features as she came in close. Daisy had nowhere to go but with her back against the wall, not much of an ability to think. What was going to happen? Their little friendship in the dark was probably gone with the shadows, and oh how she wished she could function right now, she wasn't sure if it was fear, something else, or both feelings. Scarlet placed her hands on Daisy’s lightly freckled cheeks, adjusting her slightly, this way and that.

“My, My… you’re even cuter than i thought you’d be~! The only thing uncute is the little hole here, but that was probably the bully's fault. Whoever does things like that to you deserve a little mauling to death. There’s a shop with the cutest red gyarados clothes, you should stop by after you get yourself fixed up.” Scarlet says, lightly poking the little hole in the chest area of Daisy’s sweater where she had once sewn a team rocket patch. 

Daisy’s face was bright red. The best she could do was a tiny squeak to let Scarlet know she heard her. Her hands drift to Daisy’s neck, where a reddish orange scarf lies, and begins to untie it. What was she planning to do? Daisy could barely even begin to ask. But Scarlet simply tied it like a sling, putting Daisy’s injured arm through to rest in. As simple and nice as the gesture was, Daisy's heart wouldn't stop racing. She could've sworn it could even be heard from Scarlet’s close distance...

“There we are~ wish I knew about your lovely scarf earlier, you’d be in a lot less pain. But hey, we’re in the now. As much as I’d love to just take you home with me, mother would chew you up and spit you out, like a little dotty gumball. So I’ll have to set you free for now, ‘till another day. Let’s go, shall we?” Scarlet says.

She takes Daisy’s hand, and leads her to the alternate exit. They get outside, and Scarlet whispers one last soft goodbye before she wanders off to the Entrance, presumably to take care of some loose ends. Daisy… is just, for lack of better word, shook. She goes to the center for some much needed heals and pokeball changes, then to that store for an outfit change (The red gyarados outfit was amazing, but she lacked the funds and settled for a soft pink skitty print sweater), then heads to visit the hospitalized Pryce. She could barely hear him through the sheer thoughts and feelings happening in her head, and he sent her on her way with a little envelope. 

She goes back to base. Thank god, Kano just went home after he couldn’t find Daisy. She drops off the letter with the closest higher up, then on her way up to her room crosses paths with Azure, who notices her unusual disposition. And comes to the rescue with a little orange soda.

“You look like you just ran a marathon. What happened?” Azure asked.

“T-teammates gone… most… warned em… trapped in basement… broke arm… th-there was a pretty girl… and she helped me…” Daisy said.

“Oh… well, I heeded your warning today, and things worked out well. But tell me about this girl.” Azure says.

“She’s…. F-from mahogany town…” Daisy lies, then truths, “She’s. Just. gorgeous. I dunno what to do with myself now. Sh-she really got me…”

“I see. I think you may have just fell head over heels, my friend. You get permission to take the rest of the day to rest! You’ve earned it after that wild ride. Treat yourself, and enjoy the soda.” Azure says.

“Yes please thank you…” Daisy mutters.

Azure gives her a quick and gentle pat, then lets her be on her way, wondering just what the heck happened between her and the mysterious possibly hot as hell mystery girl. Daisy lies down in her bed, checking texts, drinking that soda. She hoped that if she had a vision tonight, it would be a good one…

...and maybe set her up for another rare Scarlet encounter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna be honest i asked my proofreader how they felt and they went "Romeo and Juliette" and they're not wrong tbh


	6. Memories and Mystery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rust thinks back on the people he's met before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for the short chapter. will have longer in the future ^^;

A slight movement in the night is what woke Rust up. Something was outside, and it sounded big. His pokemon are still fast asleep, but whatever it was, was definitely close. He takes a slow breath, in and out. He knew whatever it was could easily miss his place, and he wouldn’t have to move. But still, the threat was just taunting enough to stay awake. It’s been some nights since he last contacted anyone, or had even been seen by anyone.

So of course, he takes the alone time to think about the two trainers he met, and the strange, mysterious savior that rescued him before. Where had he seen the two besides just then?

For the green boy’s case, Rust had no answer. There was a blank space in his memory surrounding Hayune, and this ghostly feeling that he can’t quite put his finger on. But he knows that face. He doesn't know if he should trust it. 

As for Azure, there was a little more of a presence, now that he thought about her some more. He knew he saw her face somewhere before, a long, long time ago. The more he sat in the quiet of the night, the more he could see it. Azure… there were feelings attached to her name. Positive ones. Where had he met with her before? He felt like it was even in a similar way to how he met her earlier. 

He searches his memories. Wasn’t it… in the summertime?

And just like a warm breeze, the memory begins to resurface.  _ He met her on a much sunnier day, years ago on one of his first runs away from home. They crossed paths in the woods, and she worried over him because he had run so far he couldn’t breathe. He remembered being so defensive, only to be met with a gentle hand, helping him up. A sweet little voice asking what happened, and when met with silence, asked if he wanted to come with her for a while. The two of them walking, and coming to a little picnic with Azure’s mother. Again, being defensive and afraid, but being met with more kindness than he knew how to react to. Being given proper food, sitting with the two of them and relaxing for once. Him catching a cubone with her help. _

_ But as the memories of that pleasant day came up, so did the things that ruined it. Flashes of learning a game with her when they went back in the woods to play. Feeling his heart drop at the signs of his mother coming. Urging Azure to run back to her mother before it's too late, even painfully using Cubone to try and threaten her into running away, but she refused to leave. His mother showing up, and him ordering Cubone to bone club Sird and her Pokeballs so she couldn’t give chase with her pokemon, pushing Azure out of the way of an attack from Sird’s persian that left a deep mark in the ground, and left her houndour with little health. Being punished once Azure got away by getting the very scar that cursed his face inflicted, and being left in the woods to be cared for by the kindness of wild pokemon before he could make it back home… trying to spread the kindness he learned to his siblings, only to get nothing in return but scorn. _

Rust couldn’t believe he forgot someone like that. Of course, awful things had happened after meeting her, but how could he have forgotten her face for so long? Maybe… maybe that’s why he felt so guilty. He reaches up, feeling the scar that never left him. The reminder of that day.

He wondered if she remembered him. Would she remember someone she only met once before, in no doubt a long life of events? He really wondered. He wanted her to remember him. But how could he ask of that, with the mess their reunite was? It sounded silly to even obsess over that. But he couldn’t deny… just wanting someone to talk to. He couldn’t deny hating being alone, yet not wanting to be hurt again. 

Snapping out of his deep pit of thoughts, he realizes that the forest outside his hideout had fallen silent. It seemed like the creature outside had left him alone. Rust lays back against his sleeping bag he had bought earlier that day, grateful he had the opportunity to get one. It was a nice thing to rest in, and better than rough ground. 

Ever so slowly, Rust begins to drift back to sleep… thinking calming thoughts…

But then, there was a loud roar. Two of them. Rust knew this sounded like a fight, and his little hole in the ground was directly in the middle as sounds erupted around him. Rust sighs in frustration, unzipping himself from his sleeping bag and tucking it away. His Cubone wakes, and crawls up onto his shoulder after he slips his backpack onto his shoulders. He didn’t want to risk being caught in a battle that would cave this hideout in and trap him under rubble. 

As he exits, he spots the battling pokemon, both Silhouetted in the moonlight, but easy enough to make out; A Tyranitar and a Nidoking, both large, and both territorial, having already felled some trees in the wake of their fight and turning Rust’s covered base into a hole in a clearing. In his current state, they were not something Rust could battle. Thus, he tries to make a quick exit past the two, hoping he would be lucky enough to not be seen. It would be a long run to the trees, but he had to risk it.

The Tyranitar kicks up a sandstorm, and the Nidoking pulls an even worse move of using earthquake, breaking up the ground beneath the two and causing Rust even more trouble. He’s trying to gain his footing, but he was tripping over the chunks of rock and rubble, these huge pokemon approaching way too fast-

“Ciel! Let’s go!” A voice calls out. 

Suddenly the area is blasted with a cold burst of hail, Cancelling out Tyranitar’s sandstorm. The two larger pokemon stop fighting each other momentarily, turning their focus to the source of the voice and attack, which came from somewhere to Rust’s left. Together they charge, Nidoking running at the attacker with fangs while Tyranitar charges a fierce hyper beam. The cloaked trainer waves their hand, and their alolan ninetales, assumed to be the Ciel in question, fires off a devastating blizzard attack. The monstrous pokemon are hit, and Nidoking falls to the ground with a heavy thud as ice slips into the broken, cracked ground, sealing it up and shining like cold steel in the moonlight. Rust was even left unharmed, the trainer’s accuracy perfect. 

The Tyranitar, however, was still not done and very enraged. It can’t recover fast enough for an attack though, and with a fast order from his trainer, Ciel fires off a dazzling gleam. With that attack, The Tyranitar is no longer a threat. The trainer produces two custom-made Heavy Balls, and the pokemon are caught. The figure sends Ciel to retrieve their prizes, and they pocket the subdued pokemon. Rust watches on warily. He knows he should’ve run when this trainer gave him the chance, but he found himself stuck, breathing hard with no sign of calming. 

He didn’t really know why he was so scared, but nonetheless, the trainer approached carefully. As Rust’s eyes adjust and the trainer steps out into the moonlight to help, He sees that this trainer is fully cloaked, black gloves, boots, and jumpsuit with a black, tattered cape, and a white Mask that fully covered their face with an eerie smile carved into it. The only thing that was exposed was their hair, poking over and around the mask and flowing down in a blue, purple, and pink gradient. He knew the old symbolism of that mask, and scrambles to find the knife now gone from his pocket. And he knew with his type matchup, he wouldn’t be able to win…

But instead of fighting him, or taking his life, the masked being knelt down beside him.

“Are you okay? I’ve taken down the threats, you should be safe now.” A deep and elegant voice questions him, ever so patient as they follow up with, “I’m on your side, i promise. It’s going to be alright.”

They gently take a hold of his free hand. Rust flinched away for a moment, but somehow the touch instantly began to calm him. As the rush in his head dies down, his hyperventilating slowly becoming deep breaths, they are patient. Rust almost felt scared by how easily they had stopped his panic, now only present in a slight quivering of his voice. He still felt like crying, but he didn’t want to do that near any humans, really. Were they really on his side?

“Is that better? Are you able to stand, or do you need another moment?” the masked person asked.

“Who are you?” Rust asked. 

“I am Masked Mistress. I am a hero, or at least doing my best to be one. And who might you be?” Mistress asks.

“Rust…” he answers shortly, then glares up at them suspiciously, “Why do you want to help me?” 

“Rust. I’ll remember your name… the only reason I want to help you is because it’s what’s right. I couldn’t let you get trampled, could I?” Mistress answered.

After that, Rust stayed silent for a moment. It was clear he didn’t have much trust. Even so, as they attempt to help him stand, he accepts. They help lead him off the mound of broken rock and ice, and after a moment Ciel reappears beside the two trainers, nudging Rust’s hand. After a nervous second, Rust decides to gently pet under Ciel’s chin. Ciel rewards him by Depositing his misplaced switchblade into his hand, along with his lighter that he didn’t even realize he lost. Each was covered in frosty, shiny slobber. Regardless, Rust pockets the items and gives Ciel some more good boy pets, and a few for his cubone, who got jealous.

“So, I assume you would like a safer place to rest, yes?” Mistress asks. 

“Sure… what do you classify as safe?” Rust asks, the fear beginning to ebb away to a mild trust.

“Well…” Mistress says, humming, “My home base is a place, but there’s many children that reside there, all very young. We took someone your age into our care and they don’t really leave him alone, they find him too neat. But again, it is rough. The next place I could think of is the daycare, because at least one of the two who run it always stays late and they are sweet people, though I can’t approach them with you. I guess my costume is frightening… but I can also offer to pay for a few days of staying at one of Goldenrod’s hotels if you’d like. But the safest of all… is where a dear friend of mine lives, at the Black TR base. It’s definitely a more permanent solution with no worry about having to leave. I know the boss doesn’t mind new additions as long as they aren’t actively harmful. Which of these sounds the best to you?”

Rust thought for a moment. “...who do you know at the TR base? Is it really that safe?” 

“Her name is Azure. She should be able to get you a nice and comfortable space, regardless if you tell her I sent you or not. All you have to do is ask to join and say you know her.” Mistress replies.

Azure... Rust felt nervous, but also… strangely hopeful. “I do know her at least. It’s like you saw what happened a couple days ago…” 

“Maybe I did hear about it from her.” Mistress says.

“Oh yeah? What did she tell you?” Rust asks.

“She’s  _ very _ embarrassed about how she was introduced to you is all. Wants to make it up to you, in fact… and also give you the impression she’s not weird.” Mistress answers. 

Rust looks away, hiding a small smile. “Oh. Well, tell her she doesn’t need to do that. You don’t have to tell her this, I’ll ask her about it myself, but… I realized we’ve met before that odd moment. Though it was a pretty long time ago. Because of that, whether she remembers or not… I guess she’s someone I can trust.”

“I see…” Mistress says, tapping their mask as if deep in thought, “So I could assume your answer is the TR base?”

“Yeah, I’ll go there. But just… not tonight. I’ll go in the morning and ask. I want to prepare at least. I hate owing people, but I think I need just enough for a night’s stay at that hotel you mentioned.” Rust says. 

“Very well. I’ll take you over right now.” Mistress says. 

And with this, off they walk. Just before they go inside city limits, Mistress stops in a little grove of trees and tells Rust to wait. When they re-emerge, They’re in some pretty casual street clothes of a large zip up hoodie, cyan and silver platform shoes, and old, damaged jeans, with a face mask and aviator shades to boot. They press Their hair beneath the hood, and hold out their hand for them to keep walking together.

Once to the hotel, they pay up front and walk with Rust to his room. They observe as he presses his hand onto the tidy bed, and seems amazed at how soft it is. He then takes his bag off and flops onto the bed.

“How much did this cost you?” Rust asks, muffled slightly by the sheets.

“It doesn’t matter.” Mistress responds with a giggle, “Just enjoy the rest of your night.”

And with that, for some odd reason, they waltzed into the bathroom and closed the door. Rust waited for them to emerge for some time, but when they didn’t, he went and investigated. He first knocks, and when they don’t answer, he opens the door. They were nowhere to be found, seemingly vanished into thin air.

“What the fuck…?” Rust mutters to himself.

With that, he decides he’s had enough of being awake and goes to his hotel bed to sleep.


End file.
